Biga + 24h Cold Ferment

6 dough balls of 285 g

Ingredients

• 1000 g flour
• 680 g water
• 28 g salt
• 2.51 g fresh yeast

Method

1. Make a biga: mix 500 g flour, 250 g water, and 1.80 g yeast into a stiff, shaggy mass, and let it ferment about 22 hours at 18°C. The time depends on the temperature: about 27 hours at 16°C, 22 hours at 18°C or 19 hours at 20°C. It's ripe when it has clearly risen, smells a little sour and boozy, and tears open stringy and web-like inside.
2. Combine 500 g flour and 398 g water (holding back 32 g water to dissolve the yeast in later) until no dry flour remains, then rest covered for 45–60 minutes (autolyse).
3. Work in the ripe biga and 0.71 g yeast dissolved in the 32 g water held back from the autolyse, knead briefly, then add 28.0 g salt and work that in too.
4. Knead only until the dough is smooth and cohesive, about 5–8 minutes by hand or 6–10 in a mixer — stop before a full windowpane. Over a ferment this long the enzymes finish the gluten development for you, and over-kneading now leaves the dough fighting you when you open it. Treat the minutes as a guide: watch the dough and its temperature — it should finish around 24 °C; if a mixer warms it well past that, stop sooner.
5. Let the dough rest to kick off fermentation for about 15 minutes at 21°C.
6. Divide into 6 balls of ~285 g and shape tight rounds.
7. Refrigerate the shaped balls for about 24 hours at 4°C. Fermenting as balls rather than one mass is what makes the dough open easily later.
8. Proof the shaped balls for about 3.0 hours at 21°C until puffy.
9. Stretch, top, and bake on a hot stone/steel or in your pizza oven until the crust is set and colored.