How to make a Biga for Pizza and Bread with Master Pizzaiolo Massimo Nocerino

Biga is a type of pre-fermentation used in Italian baking. Many popular Italian breads, including ciabatta, are made using a biga. Using a biga adds complexity to the bread's flavor and is often used in breads that need a light, open texture with holes. Apart from adding to flavor and texture, a biga also helps to preserve bread by making it less perishable.
Biga techniques were developed after the advent of baker's yeast as bakers in Italy moved away from the use of sourdough and needed to recover some of the flavor that was given up in this move. Bigas are usually dry and thick compared to a sourdough starter. This thickness is believed to give a Biga its characteristic slightly nutty taste. Biga is usually made fresh every day, using a small amount of baker's yeast in a thick dough, which varies from 45 to 90% hydration as a baker's percentage, and is allowed to ferment from 12 to 24 hours to fully develop its flavor.
For some home bakers, "Biga" is used to refer to naturally leavened sourdough made with a stiff starter, without using baker's yeast.

[@ginojc73]

Ciao Massimo, Thank you for the video! Please see below instruction as per the video.... One tip, day two I found that the dough was to sticky for my hands to handle so I used a mixer for the final stage. Worked out amazing! Massimo 100% Biga Pizza. Makes 3 Pizza @ 250gram dough balls. Day 1 500 gram 00 Flour 250 gram warm water 1gram dry yeast Day 2 100 gram water 12 gram Salt Method: DAY1 Add yeast to flour, slowly add the water and mix to make strands of flour in a large bowl. Make sure all water/flour is incorporated. The Mix should be chunky. Cover in container, leave 24hr at room temp. DAY 2 Add water slowly to Biga mix, incorporate all. Add salt and incorporate. Move mix to table and fold/press. (Can use flour so not to stick to hands.) Slap and fold, turn on the table. Rest for 30mins (Covered) Make 250 gram dough balls. Rest for 5-6hrs, @ room temp covered. Ready to bake.

[@roccosdough]

Very nice to see this ! Thanks Maestro ! You proved it good! Glad to know we can melt the BIGA and make the dough by hands if we do not have a mixer. Most other pizza makers says with biga they only use mixer but I use hands like you did in this video so I thank you ! Awesome ! Thanks for showing we can do this by hands with BIGA ! Thank you !

[@Bevieevans8]

Thank you again for sharing. I’m trying your Neapolitan dough recipe tonight, to,the gram, but it’s so warm (I’m in the UK can you believe it!) I’ve had to put the dough balls in the fridge

[@claudiamedina2825]

Thank you so much for sharing. Will definitely be trying and will make faina to go with it!

[@jeffkapukapu]

Thank you for the great videos 💪🏻

[@ralphdavis9670]

Massimo, I would love to see how you handle pizza dough for freezing. It is so convenient to have dough ready to thaw and stretch. Grazie.

[@GiannisPeppas]

Ciao Massimo.The hydration is 70% not 65% 500 flower+250 +100 water is 350 water.. thanks for video!

[@BS-yk7hi]

Thank you maestro

[@aliciacorelli2908]

Very good information thank you

[@edithharmer1326]

Great Tutorial! Well explained! Thank you for sharing! Greetings from Singapore!🌹🌹🇸🇬 Edith, a happy Subcriber.

[@massimonocerino]

Many thanks Edi welcome to my channel 😀🍕👍🙏

[@edithharmer1326]

@@massimonocerino You are a humble individual who is very likeable. It is a pleasure to learn thru your educational tutorials. All the blessings!! Thank you for sharing! Greetings from Singapore! Edith, a happy Subscriber.

[@r.llynch4124]

For bakers percentage, It's 71.4% of the total water when making the Biga.

[@wheres_bears1378]

Complimenti 👍

[@CarlRoutledge]

Been watching a lot of your videos and finding them so helpful. I always use poolish in my neopolitan pizzas as I use an app for the calculations and it does have biga as a starter at the moment. I've used biga 100 percent to make detroit style pizza and it was so delicious. I'm going to have to try this though for neopolitans, just wish there was an easy method to work out each weight if for say I want to do 4 * dough balls at 250 for example or more as I sometimes need to do 6, 7 or 8 pizzas. Would be handy if you could share any method you use for those calculations.

[@massimonocerino]

Thanks Carl. Poolish video coming soon:)

[@andreafederer]

With 1kg of flour 67-70% hydration you can make 6 250g balls

[@om3othx-679]

Massimo thank you for inspiring us to make pizza, in your opinion what’s better biga or poolish? I find poolish very easy to make

[@massimonocerino]

Yes polish its I bit easier its come on next video. Thanks for the comments 😀🍕👍🙏

[@jorgemicolta4246]

Ciao Massimo I am pizziolo make brick oven pizza I wanna do this in the restaurant how can I tell the boss this really works makes the pizza delicious The pizza comes out crispy and doesn't fold down with toppings. I watch ur all ur videos learn from them.

[@jorgemicolta4246]

Ciao Massimo I am gonna try to make this Biga at home with 00 zero Farina I hope it works 35 yrs I am pizziolo one day I plan to visit Italy again see the best pizziolo!! Grazi

[@michaelmcinerney1754]

Hi Massimo I have watched both your Biga and Poolish videos - which pre ferment do you think works best ? I am using my sourdough for the Poolish which I hope to use tomorrow :) Great videos - I hope to pop along to visit soon and have a pizza ! Thank you

[@massimonocerino]

Thanks for the comments. Biga and poolish has good fermentation but poolish it's more easy method. Also I do use sourdough pizzas at the time

[@toddwmac]

Thanks Massimo!

[@1kitei]

Hola Massimo, hello from Mexico! I'm learning a ton from all of your videos. Looking to start my pop-up pizza bussiness, so everything you post is priceless, thank you! Quick question, you leave your biga at room temp (20c) for 24 hrs; where I live temp goes up to 32 - 35 C in the summer; what's the recommended tiime to leave the biga at room temp then? Cheers!

[@massimonocerino]

I don't do biga.only sourdough. For you hot country I reccomend only 12 hours room temperature

[@kierancarberry7601]

I like biga and poolish but sourdough I think the dough is very very soft I might have to change flours thanks as always massimo

[@massimonocerino]

Thanks brother it's all about get the right mix

[@jimbo007777]

I just discovered your Chanel and im in love!!! In your opinion what are the taste differences between biga and poolish?

[@massimonocerino]

Pretty much same results

[@suprio_gonefishing]

nice

[@kamelcherif6769]

Hello Massimo I love your vidéos I would liké to know how long Can i keep the doug when it is ouside witha biga And IS it possible to put it in thé fridge After boling and how long can i keep it Thanks a lot for your help

[@massimonocerino]

Yes you can

[@jimpriestley6693]

Looks good, thanks as always! So using this Biga you do not have to knead the dough as you would standard AVPN dough preparation?

[@massimonocerino]

Thanks Jim yes for make the biga no need kneading

[@illletmyselfout.8516]

Well I'm gonna try this one I haven't had much success with biga

[@massimonocerino]

Try it's no complicated .good luck👍🍕

[@paulcanbefoundhere]

Is there any reason you don't dissolve the salt before adding?

[@troyhiggins3945]

Hello thank you so much for the videos then have helped me a lot. Question, do you think I could use Hecklers All Purpose flour and get good results for any style of pizza? Or should I only use 00 flour with this recipe? Thank you very much.

[@massimonocerino]

Best result always with 00 flour or type 0

[@troyhiggins3945]

One other question is it a total of 250ml + 100ml of water? Or is 250ml only? I tried the recipe with a total of 350ml of water but it was much too much hydration and fell apart.

[@massimonocerino]

@@troyhiggins3945 should be plus 100 ml water

[@joannburland5185]

Hi, thanks for sharing. Can i ask what cheese you use, is it just Mozzarella? Also i have trouble shaping my pizza, and they end up thick, any suggestions please

[@massimonocerino]

I use mozzarella Fiore di latte.try to make your pizza balls smaller size

[@shibby328]

How much water used? 👍🏼

[@massimonocerino]

350 all together

[@MichaelFaibisch]

I really like your videos about sourdough! Can natural yeast starter be used instead of commercial yeast to make 100% biga pizza?

[@massimonocerino]

Yes sure you can

[@MichaelFaibisch]

@@massimonocerino Certainly worth a try.

[@kamelcherif6769]

IS it possible to make a biga with 60 per cent of water cos with thé rain 65 IS to wet now

[@BS-yk7hi]

👍👍👍

[@JReuland]

Good morning Massimo. I need your help here. First i tried your 6 hours poolish method and it came out perfectly at 67% hydration. With this biga method using exactly the same flour i come to a disaster sticky dough at 70%! I don't get firm dough as you have on your table. Should I start all over again at 65% or stick to poolish method? Thank you Massimo

[@massimonocerino]

Definitely try 65 or bit less

[@JReuland]

@@massimonocerino I will try it before giving up! 😀

[@JReuland]

@@massimonocerino ok Massimo! I tried my new recipe at 64% hydration. It fermented 24 hours and I just finished adding 70 gr of cold water. The dough was mixed with the folia from my kitchenaid. I got a pure silky elastic dough. It is resting 30 min in my fridge and I will shape the balls soon and keep them overnight in my fridge. It is too late here today! Thank you for your kind follow up!

[@omaralaniz475]

Omar Alaniz

[@rosardiofontana3895]

Why sometimes when I do biga it comes with lumps ?

[@massimonocerino]

You may need to mixing I bit longer

[@markohorvat6123]

To je to👍💪🍕😋

[@Quiltygal]

Why did you not add all the 100ml of water in your glass?

[@emmgeevideo]

So Maestro - which one TASTES better, biga or poolish?

[@massimonocerino]

both method are similar. very dificolt to say wich its better

[@martinel13]

Ciao Massimo, is there a big difference is you leave the Biga at room temperature than putting it in the fridge?

[@massimonocerino]

It's all depends of the whether of your country

[@martinel13]

@@massimonocerino I live in Mexico, the weather is around 73 F or 23 C all year round, especially where I make pizza

[@r.llynch4124]

Think that's 70% hydration?

[@ritamonos288]

I've seen other biga recipes where a portion of the flour was added after the biga fermentation. How come yours adds all the flour in the biga?

[@massimonocerino]

Hi Rita they are different way to make it, also if you do small batch like 0.5 flour you dont really need. add extra flour.Poolish its way that you add the flour on the fermentation.

[@janala69]

Ciao Massimo, how do you prevent the dough from getting too thin in the middle? Often I get holes on my pizzas in the oven.

[@massimonocerino]

Ciao Janne , the reason if the pizza get holes in the middle that its to thin and that cause the pizza broke on the table or in the oven, , the stretching its very important, please check my video about all stretching pizzas hire you should get good tips for you

[@janala69]

@@massimonocerino ok thanks I will check it out and thanks for your videos, very helpful!👍👏

[@alr1917]

What can you use if you don't have a pizza tray to place you pizza dough in to rest?

[@massimonocerino]

Inside at seal plastic containers

[@alr1917]

@@massimonocerino Thank you. Using your video to make biga for pizza, so far so good. Thank you.

[@anthonyfarone420]

Will w rating of 260/270 with 12.5% of protein (caputo pizzeria blue bag) work well for Biga

[@massimonocerino]

Yes definitely

[@anthonyfarone420]

Thanks for your response.

[@darrenpeel2482]

Great video and nice skill. Are you near a swimming pool!

[@massimonocerino]

Many thanks Darren I wish I was near to the swimming pool. I got primary school next to my shop😆

[@darrenpeel2482]

@@massimonocerino Perfect for selling pizza👍

[@MrUsampa]

Nice and hairy here 😁

[@nelsonbrooks]

I find the background noise very distracting.

[@Shane0093]

Are you outside a swimming pool?

[@massimonocerino]

no i wish was:)

[@massimonocerino]

It's a primary school next to me😄that it's all the noises

[@Shane0093]

Cheers for providing Pizza information. I'm a novice and find your advice is really helpful.. cheers.