[Sca-cooks] Bread-baking with a biga

[Bonne de Traquair]

--- Kerri Martinsen <kerrimart at mindspring.com> wrote:
> I actually ENJOYED making bread with my sponge.  I
> didn't have to devote one
> whole day (difficult with an infant) to making
> bread.  I could mix it up at
> night, let it rise overnight, punch down and kneed
> in the morning before
> work, let rise while I was at work, and then bake
> when I got home from work.
>
> It only required me getting up a little early one
> day and I still got work
> done too.
>
> The only way I've made "modern" bread lately is in
> my bread machine (dump
> and forget it).
>
> Vitha

The technique translates into a yeasted dough just as
easily.  Instead of 'setting in a warm place until
doubled in size', set it in a cool place like the
fridge and the doubling will take longer.   And if it
doubles but you don't have time to knead it or aren't
wanting to cook it yet, just punch it down and cover
it up again.   It's not that bread takes 'all day',
it just takes bits of time over the day.  Or over two
or three days.  Whatever suits you.

If given much time, you can use less yeast.  Buy yeast
in the jar instead of the packets and you can
gradually learn how little yeast will rise the amount
of dough you are willing to work with, over the number
of days/risings you are willing to work with.  My
favorite recipe is from a 1960's southern living
cookbook, it makes 6 loaves.  I've adjust the yeast
downwards and bake a loaf every day or so.  The first
is sometimes a little underwhelming because I do want
to bake it the first day, the last is beginning to
taste sour dough-ish because the dough has been rising
and resting for 4 or 5 days.    I suppose a knob of
the dough would be put to good use as part of the next
recipe, but I don't actually like sour dough and so do
not take advantage of this.

Are you the 'Vitha that used to work with Sveva/Leila
at Playmakers?

Bonne

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