Pizza Showdown: Biga vs Poolish on a Charcoal Grill! Neapolitan Dream or Disaster?

In a quest to perfect pizza dough, we're exploring two renowned pre-ferments: Biga and Poolish. This face-off on Impossibly Kosher was inspired by the incredible Vito Iacopelli, but with our signature spin. 🍕
Challenging traditional pizza norms, we're using a CHARCOAL grill to emulate the intense heat of Neapolitan ovens. Can we truly achieve that authentic Neapolitan crust at a staggering 700°F? It's time to find out.
Share your thoughts in the comments: Biga or Poolish? And if you've ever tried grilling pizzas, we want to hear about it!
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Timestamp:
0:00 - Intro to Pre-Ferments
2:44 - Biga Dough Steps
6:35 - Poolish Dough Steps
10:40 - BIGA: Stretching, Topping, Cooking
13:14 - POOLISH: Stretching, topping, Cooking
14:58 - Tasting and Reviewing

[@PicSta]

Pamm pamm pamm... haha! Almost like Vito says: "Poom Poom Poom, baby!" 🤣

[@ImpossiblyKosher]

hahahaha I was hoping someone would catch that ;)

[@kenb3552]

Poolish is a French term, but the practice actually comes from Poland - hence the French term, "Poolish". The French took the practice from Polish baking methods.

[@ImpossiblyKosher]

Good to know !

[@Chefpaulg]

I love Vito lacopelli 😂

[@ImpossiblyKosher]

Me too! His pizza is the best

[@PicSta]

I prefer poolish as it develops more flavour, during the same time of fermentation. By the way, your pizza bottom looked a little too dark (burned). To avoid that, use less charcoal and leave some out in the middle. The flames from the wood are actually needed to compensate the lack of heat from the top. So keep a good flame from wood right before you throw in the pizza. Okay, okay, enough comments for this one video. I promise! :)

[@ImpossiblyKosher]

Very good catch! actually the one I filmed was that one, the one we tasted was another :P I was trying to push the temp to 800 so used wood and coals all on the perimeter. Still the stone got too hot. Also, was the first pizza, so got a bit burnt. Now I use the Gozney roccbox almost exclusively when making pizzas :) I even posted a video on it. I also love Poolish. I agree with Vito that it is the way to go. Also it makes the whole prep way easier.

[@PicSta]

@@ImpossiblyKosher I think both methods have their pros and cons, such as poolish creates much more delicate dough balls. I think if you live in an area with high temps and humidity, I would use biga instead of poolish. But I would ferment my biga longer to get the taste. That's just being me, of course.

[@ImpossiblyKosher]

great tip! I stopped making pizza without a pre ferment after mastering the poolish. The texture is so good and I always end up with TONS of happy people :) Even compared to a man I know who ferments his dough balls for 3 days, the taste is not the same and for the home cook can be a bit annoying to take up the entire fridge for days.

[@PicSta]

@@ImpossiblyKosher personally, I prefer 24h long fermentation times. I know you can ferment like 36h or even 48h, but the texture changes, the flavour is not much better plus a risk to over proof your dough. And I agree on space as I have a small fridge, my wife really hates me for having too much pizza dough in the fridge for too long. So let's be nice and go with 24h fermentation. :D Updated: Btw, then try to experiment with whole wheat flour. Put it in the poolish (10%). It elevates the taste and makes the dough more digestible. Believe me I am doing pizza since over 20 years. I have tested a lot with flours, hydrations, and additives.

[@Patrick-eieio]

Nice job on those pies. Do you use 00 flour?

[@ImpossiblyKosher]

Thanks! Not on these. I find 00 burns fast in the bbq.

[@krene8583]

I don't have a scale so how much is the 5grams of yeast in spoons

[@ImpossiblyKosher]

1 tsp should be enough :)

[@etahcollins2795]

❤❤❤ but please could you explain on the adding the of the poolish for Napolitano, I got mix up with the 700ml of water and later 400ml and in total you got 1000ml of water and 1550 g of flour

[@ImpossiblyKosher]

Oh sorry about the confusion! Basically the Poolish it 1 to 1, so 1g flour = 1ml water. So the Poolish is 300g water. I must have misspoke… Poolish is added to water, I had a big batch so added 700ml of water which brought the total to 1000ml of water. To calculate the flour needed: Total water / hydration % 1000ml / 0.65 = 1538g (I rounded to 1550 because little extra water was inside). General rule though is on top of the Poolish, every 100ml water will give 1 more pizza ball. Hope this helps!

[@etahcollins2795]

@@ImpossiblyKosher thank you so much and this makes a perfect understanding.

[@ImpossiblyKosher]

glad I was able to help :)

[@PicSta]

The mozzarella in the bags is also fresh, just has soaked up so much of this liquid, that is the wrong choice for a pizza. Unless you like soggy / watery pizza. Could also give big mess in the oven. So the best is to buy firm mozzarella or if available Fior Di Latte cut into strings or big chunks.

[@ImpossiblyKosher]

good point! I forgot to mention in the video a note about the cheese that if you do buy the one swimming in the brine water, cut it and (as per Vito) let it sit in a strainer to remove some of the moisture.

[@PicSta]

@@ImpossiblyKosher yes overnight in the fridge bowl + sieve + weight on top. The only difference will be the taste might be less good. Especially at my area where you get cow milk mozzarella mostly. Tastes like nothing, really.

[@ImpossiblyKosher]

ever try making your own mozzarella?

[@PicSta]

@@ImpossiblyKosher I thought about it, but not sure if this worth the effort. I can find buffalo mozzarella, just not in all local supermarkets. I have seen the process, and it's by far one of the easier cheese making methods. No long ripe period needed and so on. No special climate or equipment.

[@ImpossiblyKosher]

exactly. very easy to make, but what I dont like (and haven't figured out yet) is how to store it in the fridge properly. some say leave in the brine. I did that and it starts to disintegrate. others say leave open. Then starts going bad within few hours (even in fridge). Then depending how I stored, it doesn't melt after... What I do like is the control to the taste :)