white loaf with 80% biga
photo: white loaf with 80% biga
this bread recipe is one of my favourites, with a buttery taste and soft texture inside, contrasting the incredibly crunchy crust when fresh out of the oven.
80% of the final dough is made up of the biga, a preferment that is left overnight, lending a complex flavour to the finished loaf. the recipe is by ken forkish, and can be found in his recipe book flour water salt yeast: the fundamentals of artisan bread and pizza. this book was a gift from a dear friend, and became an instant favourite.
the recipes required some equipment i did not previously own, including a dutch oven, which traps the steam released by the dough during cooking to ensure the tastiest crust and rise. as a recent graduate, this was a bit of an investment for me, but i cannot recommend buying one highly enough. i’ve used mine at least once a week to bake bread, but they can also be used to make some delicious meals, not just a niche baking gadget that will get used once in a blue moon. i found mine for £55 from john lewis here.
photo: loaf part way through cooking. the lid is removed after 30 minutes to allow the crust to develop a deep brown colour.
i also became the proud owner of a couple of proving baskets which, when i manage to shape the bread correctly, leave a pretty spiral of flour on the finished loaves.
sometimes this dough can be a little tricky to handle, and i can’t quite work out whether this is because i just need to be more practised in the art of shaping dough, or if it is because it has a fairly high hydration. a wet dough makes for a really soft loaf, but you just need to make sure that the surface and your proving baskets are well floured, as i learnt the hard way when i tried to turn some dough out of one of the proving baskets and it had completely stuck!
interestingly, the loaves are baked seam-side up, so do not require scoring before baking, as the bread naturally tears where the seam has been closed during shaping. i really love this look for these loaves, as every bake finishes with unique cracks and tears, and you can see the gluten strands that have been pulled apart as the bread has risen.
photo: close up of loaf once finished browning
my favourite ways to eat this bread include:
fresh out the oven, smothered in butter and a sprinkle of flaky salt
toasted until crisp and topped with marmite
toasted until deep brown and topped with extra virgin olive oil, grated tomato and flaky salt, pan con tomate style
garlic herb bread alongside a pasta dish
you can find flour water salt yeast here.