Pizza with Biga

[Tsvika]

Re: Pizza with Biga

What type of flour do you use and how long do you allow the biga to develop?

[texassourdough]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Sounds like another Rossco adventure summer!

I haven't been up to much. Will be in Canada near the southern tip of Alaska in April. Italy for two weeks in June with one week at a cooking school. Then a week at the San Francisco Baking Institute in August.

Good luck with your students!
Jay

[heliman]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Hello Jay,

Good to hear your news. Sounds like a good bit of research going on your side!!

Apologies for the tardiness in posting but things have been really going crazy here at the moment. Have a class of 56 MBA and Masters students - both classroom and online at one university, plus a smaller group of about 23 at another university which is taking up a major chunk of my time.

Some light at the tunnel though - end of June I am going to South Africa for my dad's 80th birthday, then head off to Venice to meet up with my wife (had some really nice pizzas there last year so will have to resample to ensure quality is maintained!!). We then board a cruise boat (same one as last year) and go to Croatia, Montenegro and a whole load of Greek islands for 18 days. Will be away from work for 5 weeks so hopefully after that I will be fully relaxed!!

On the WFO front - I have been sticking to my "Da Michele" style Neapolitan recipe and results have been good. Still do biga but am very stingy with the yeast. Less is better I am finding. On that point, as the resident expert here, is it possible to get the biga going with zero yeast - only water and flour, if left at room temperature for a few hours?

WFO has been mostly doing some sensational roasts, with vegetables, also breads, scones and a fair few pizzas also. Have got into the routine of starting the oven when I get home from work, doing the veg and finish with the meat. All done in a few hrs with little intervention apart from the checking the meat.

What else have you been up to ... Tuscan Grilling??

[texassourdough]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Hi Rossco!

We haven't spoken much lately. Glad to hear all is well with you.

I am playing with a new flour - an organic small producer flour (actually many flours - AP, BF, WW, White WW) and am having a lot of fun...

Two weeks ago I used the AP for the first time for pizza and it had great flavor but was tough and fought me. So this week I went to PR's Neo Neopolitan recipe and it was simply (and unquesionably by my values) the best pizza dough I have ever had. Wheaty flavor was spectacular (and to be expected based on prior bread and pizza experience). The killer was it was CRISP - almost crackerlike on the surface, held its shapes in ALLpies, wet, dry, etc.) and was airy/almost creamy/chewy ont he inside. Amazing!

Now to see if I can repeat it!
Jay

[heliman]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Good news Stan - will be great to get that behind you!

As Jay says - such a long and drawn out process too. Even the marking takes around a year once it is submitted (here in OZ anyway).

I start part-time lecturing to postgrad students next week on top of my (non-academic) day job so there are some career options available. When I start winding down to only part-time work... which will happen soon, academic work looks quite attractive. Perhaps you are in academe already?

The correlation between PhD and pizza making - tenuous at best - but perhaps it is something to do with the analytical approach that Jay and I and others have - always exploring new avenues, testing processes etc. This mindset can be a bit of a curse really in the real world though as it's hard to switch it off....

Let us know when it's time to bake a celebratory pizza to mark conferral!!

Rossco

[BackyardPermaculture]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Hey this is an old thread!

I'm afraid I only have a BSc, but for the record I still use the Superb flour but I don't use a biga anymore - have basically been using this recipe with a very different kneading technique:
Sourdough Pizzas - As Good As Home Oven Pizzas Get! | The Boomtown Rap

[texassourdough]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Good question Stan! I think it probably has more to do with innate bullheaded stupidity and the stickatitiveness that the doctoral process develops. And...it's probably a guy thing sort of like "Dancing with Fire". Plus, there is the timing factor. Working on a doctorate takes years. A pizza, only about a minute. So we really appreciate the "speed" reward.

Good luck with your diss! Fun, fun, fun... (NOT!)
Jay

[Stan]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Hi guys,

I came on this thread via the search box. Rossco has a Ph.D., Jay has a Ph.D., I'm going to have a Ph.D. in December. How many doctors does this forum have!? Is there a statistical correlation between higher education and wood oven cookery?

Candidate Stan

[heliman]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Thanks for the good wishes Doctor Jay!

[heliman]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Thanks Mick...

I seem to recall that the manufacturer took a while to get back to me.

Maybe worth dropping Ron at Variety Foods here in Perth a note as I am sure he will know who the Brisbane outlet is for Superb Baker's Flour. A quick google will provide the email address...

[texassourdough]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Ack... somehow my response disappeared!

Congratulations, Rocssco!

I was waiting to hear from you regarding the award...

Enjoy!
Dr. Jay

[BackyardPermaculture]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Congrats on the PhD Rossco.

I've been trying to get hold of the Superb flour here in Brisbane, after reading your good reports on it - haven't had a reply from my email to the manufacturer yet.

Just been reading BBA tonight - lots to take in!

Cheers,
Mick

[heliman]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Hello Jay,

Apologies for the delay in responding - things have been very hectic here of late. Our neighbour passed away earlier in the week from cancer so there was a funeral and some other activities to deal with there. Also, the PhD was conferred yesterday - yes, finally!

Keen to explore the soaker approach and I will probably get pizza activities going again by next week. Going out to a restaurant this evening and will be having a "pizza free" bash on Sunday (making them curry & rice) to celebrate the doctoring in the meantime.

Dr Rossco

[texassourdough]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Peter doesn't use a soaker, or as I recall a biga, in any of his pizza dough recipes. He just does the retard. There will be nothing wrong with doing a soaker, however. Peter's normal pizza dough timeline is 8 to 24 hours with (basically) a refrigerator retard beginning 0 to 30 minutes after completing the mixing or balling of the dough (depending on the specific dough). IF you want to try the soaker approach you would want to begin that 6 to 12 hours before the mixing stage in order to provide enough time for the ezymes to do their thing and impact flavor. If you go much longer you will tend to lose dough strength.

The flour soak can be used on most any recipe. (Assuming a conventional one step mixed bread) Just subtract the water and flour in the soaker from the recipe amounts and mix it all up the next day. For bread you probably don't want to use more than about 50% soaker (i.e. half the flour in the soaker and half added dry in the mixing step) because of the loss of strength. For pizza dough that shouldn't be as critical. One could try mixing the water and flour early and only adding the salt and yeast at the mixing point. (I haven't tried that but it shouldn't cause any problems for pizza though the dough may be a bit sticky.)

Good luck!
Jay

[BackyardPermaculture]

Re: Pizza with Biga

Someone just lent me a stack of bread books, including all the Reinhart ones, so I'm looking forward to trying a few of these pizza dough techniques.