Biga Pizza Calculator
Exact ingredients for the biga and the final dough, with yeast matched to your fermentation times and temperatures.
Your dough recipe
| Flour | 100.0% | 1246 g |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 50.0% | 623 g |
| Fresh yeast | 0.300% | 3.74 g |
| Water | 20.0% | 249 g |
|---|---|---|
| Salt | 2.0% | 24.9 g |
| Olive oil | 1.0% | 12.5 g |
| Fresh yeast boost | 0.100% | 1.25 g |
- Dough
- 2160 g
- Flour
- 1246 g
- Water
- 872 g (70.0%)
- Biga, at 18°C equivalent
- 24 h
- Final, at 18°C equivalent
- 21 h
Method
- Mix 1246 g flour, 623 g water and 3.74 g fresh yeast by hand.
- Don't knead. Stop as soon as all the flour is taken up into rough, shaggy strands. It should look patchy.
- Cover it loosely, not airtight: leave one corner of the lid open, or use a light cover such as plastic wrap with a few small holes. It needs some air, but left uncovered it dries out.
- Ferment for 24 h at 18°C.
- Break the biga into walnut-sized pieces and put them in the mixer.
- Mix on low speed, gradually adding 249 g ice-cold water. Add 1.25 g fresh yeast as a boost.
- Add 24.9 g salt once the dough is smoother.
- Add 12.5 g olive oil near the end, a little at a time.
- Stop when the dough is smooth and reaches 23–24°C. Don't let it go above 26°C.
- Rest the dough for 10–20 minutes, depending on room temperature.
- Do a set of coil folds, then rest another 10–20 minutes. Repeat once more.
- Divide into 8 balls of 270 g, ball them and put them in oiled, airtight containers.
- Close the containers and ferment: 21 h at 18°C.
- Stretch, top and bake as hot as your oven allows.
Why biga needs its own calculator
A biga dough ferments twice. First the biga, a stiff mix of flour, water and a little yeast, ferments on its own, often for a day. Then it's mixed into the final dough, which ferments again before baking. Each stage has its own time and temperature. The yeast that grows in the biga keeps working in the final dough, which also gets a small yeast boost.
Most dough calculators treat all of this as one dough with one fermentation time, so their yeast amounts don't match the schedule. This calculator sizes the biga yeast and the final dough yeast boost separately, from the times and temperatures you enter.
With the default settings, it gives a professional 100% biga recipe in the style of Vincenzo Capuano, as taught by Gabriel Reboul, used and tested at home. More about the recipe and how it was tested.
How to use it
- Set the number of dough balls and their weight.
- Choose your yeast type.
- Enter how long and how warm the biga will ferment.
- Set the hydration, salt and oil, then add your final fermentation steps: for example 12 h at 18°C, then 8 h in the fridge, then 1.5 h at room temperature.
- Follow the method with your amounts. Use Copy link to save or share your recipe.
Guides
- How to make biga for pizzaWhat biga is, how to mix it without kneading, how long to ferment it, and how to turn it into pizza dough.
- Biga in the fridge or at 18°C?How temperature changes biga fermentation, how fridge hours compare to hours at 18°C, and how to adjust the yeast.
- Mixing the final dough in a spiral mixerHow to turn a fermented biga into pizza dough in a spiral mixer, with the order of ingredients, speeds, timings and dough temperature.
- Going to 75% hydration with bigaTwo ways to push a biga pizza dough from 70% to 75% hydration, and what changes in flour, temperature and mixing.
- Fresh, active dry or instant yeast?How fresh, active dry and instant yeast compare, how to convert between them, and why biga recipes use such small amounts.
Questions
Why create a calculator when many already exist?
Because none of them handled biga properly. A biga dough ferments twice: first the biga, then the final dough, each with its own time and temperature. The yeast that grows in the biga keeps working in the final dough, which also gets a small yeast boost. Most calculators treat it as one dough with one fermentation time, so their yeast amounts don't match the schedule. Others are buggy, or sit behind a subscription. This one sizes the biga yeast and the final dough yeast boost separately, is built on a recipe that's baked and tested regularly, and is free.
What hydration should a biga be?
Usually around 50%, which is stiff and shaggy. Some recipes go to 60%, but a wetter biga ferments faster and is best kept cold.
Can I ferment the biga in the fridge?
Yes. At around 4°C, yeast works at roughly 0.4 times its pace at 18°C, so 18 hours at 18°C is about the same as 47 hours in the fridge. Enter the fridge temperature as the biga temperature and the calculator sizes the yeast.
How much yeast do I need for a 24 hour biga?
About 0.3% fresh yeast, as a percentage of the biga flour, at 18°C. For 1 kg of flour that is 3 g of fresh yeast, or about 1.2 g of active dry and 1 g of instant. Change the time or temperature in the calculator and it adjusts the yeast.
What flour should I use?
A strong flour made for long fermentations. It has to hold up through the biga and the final dough. Italian pizza flours are labelled for this.