Neapolitan biga dough with cold fermentation ?

[fckace]

Hello guys,

I've never use biga. I'd like to know if there is a protocol with biga in order to have at the end the dough ball in the fridge, for days. It's because I like to have a dough balls ready in the fridge, in case of emergency. Of course I don't mind take the dough ball out of the fridge 4-6h before using them.

Ex:
- my dough ball are made, I put them on sleep in the fridge
- few days later: I want to eat the pizza, so I take the dough ball out of the fridge 4h before baking them

Thanks!

[DoouBall]

Don't use biga if you want to keep your dough for days in the fridge.

The whole point of biga is to preferment your dough so that your dough is matured faster. Biga based doughs are best cooked within 3-24 hours of making the dough. If you want to keep your dough in the fridge for days and have the flexibility to cook it in say, a 3-5 day range, use a direct dough.

[Yael]

I agree with what Alex said above. After 6~8 days in your fridge your dough will have enough flavors (if not too much).

[fckace]

Don't use biga if you want to keep your dough for days in the fridge.

The whole point of biga is to preferment your dough so that your dough is matured faster. Biga based doughs are best cooked within 3-24 hours of making the dough. If you want to keep your dough in the fridge for days and have the flexibility to cook it in say, a 3-5 day range, use a direct dough.

Ok thanks! I thought biga was for the cornicione development also

[DoouBall]

It is, however, preferment based doughs eat up a great deal of the sugars in the flour and they speed up fermentation in general compared to direct doughs. It's just not optimal to do a 3+day ferment using biga because by the time you bake, all your sugar is gone. Both taste and the look of your pie will be inferior to a 3+ day direct dough at that point. If you want to use biga, you'll get a great result - just bake the dough within 24 hours of making it. 30 hours max I would say.