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1
Sprinkle yeast onto the 1/4 cup warm water and let stand approximately 10 minutes until creamy.
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2
Add rest of water, stir.
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3
Add flour, one cup at a time and stir.
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4
Mix with wooden spoon for approximately.
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5
4 minutes.
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6
Oil a bowl three times as large as the mixture's volume and scrape dough into that bowl.
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7
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 8-24 hours in a cool room or until triple in volume.
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8
The longer it sits, the more character it develops.
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9
If you let it go too long, it will take on sour overtones similar to sourdough starter as a result of the acidic by-products of yeast metabolism.
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10
If the room is cool enough--60-65 deg.
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11
F, 24 hours will yield a nice, mellow-flavored biga.
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12
You only need your first biga to get started.
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13
Then it is simply a matter of making bread at least once a week or so if you have refrigeration to keep the biga alive.
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14
If you don't have refrigeration, you would want to make bread every day and save a portion of the new dough you make each day as a starter for tomorrow's bread.
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15
Just take that portion BEFORE you add salt to the new bread dough.
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16
In this case, you would keep tomorrow's starter at room temperature.
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17
Use as you would a sourdough starter.
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18
For a rough guide, use approximately one cup of biga for a bread recipe calling for 7-8 cups of flour.
