Ken Forkish 48-72 Hour Biga Pizza Dough

[John Setzler]

I'd stick with whatever the book says

[fafrd]

39 minutes ago, John Setzler said:

I'd stick with whatever the book says

Why have you decided to stick to 24-hour or less doughs?  No difference or not enough to be worth the extra effort?

[John Setzler]

It's just my preferred technique.  Most pizza I make is on short notice.  My 2 hour dough is pretty good.  My favorite is a 24 hour dough.  I do not like sourdough crusts as much.  Most of the pizza I make these days is not a typical lean dough crust.  I think my current favorite style of pizza is Detroit style.  

[fafrd]

5 hours ago, John Setzler said:

It's just my preferred technique.  Most pizza I make is on short notice.  My 2 hour dough is pretty good.  My favorite is a 24 hour dough.  I do not like sourdough crusts as much.  Most of the pizza I make these days is not a typical lean dough crust.  I think my current favorite style of pizza is Detroit style.  

 

Got it - thanks.

 

A 60% version of Forkish's 24-hour dough is what we used for our first puzza cook, and it was great.

 

As a newbie slowly following in your much-more experienced footsteps (several years later), did you think there was enough difference in flavor with Forkish's 48-72-hour Biga dough to be worth trying?

 

I'm obviously in the early experimental phase and would appreciate your opinion on whether there was enough difference in flavor or texture or whatever between the 24-hour dough and the 48-72-hour Biga dough to justify the effort of making 3 balls of each.

[John Setzler]

1 hour ago, fafrd said:

 

Got it - thanks.

 

A 60% version of Forkish's 24-hour dough is what we used for our first puzza cook, and it was great.

 

As a newbie slowly following in your much-more experienced footsteps (several years later), did you think there was enough difference in flavor with Forkish's 48-72-hour Biga dough to be worth trying?

 

I'm obviously in the early experimental phase and would appreciate your opinion on whether there was enough difference in flavor or texture or whatever between the 24-hour dough and the 48-72-hour Biga dough to justify the effort of making 3 balls of each.

 

Yes.  I suggest you try all of it.  You will never know what you like best until you try it.

[fafrd]

4 hours ago, John Setzler said:

 

Yes.  I suggest you try all of it.  You will never know what you like best until you try it.

 

Perfect - thanks.  

 

Definitely worth a try if the result is distinct.  If it ends up being no different, then that’s more questionable.

 

The kilo of ‘Le 5 Stagioni’ 00 flour I picked up has a recipe on the back for 59% Neopolitan Pizza Dough that I think I will adapt for a 50/50 Biga dough using Forkish’s approach:

 

50% Biga @ 59% hydration:

-250g 00 flour

-147.5g water @ 105F (for 80F target)

-0.2g yeast

Mix, knead, and let rest at room temperature for 12 hours in covered container.

 

100% Dough @ 59% hydration:

-250g 00 flour

-147.5g water @ 93F (for 75F target)

-13g fine sea salt (2.6%)

-397.5g Biga (@ ~75F)

Mix dough by hand and then mix in Biga and integrate by hand.  Let rise 20 minutes then knead for 30-60 seconds, cover smooth dough-ball seam side down and let rise for 45 minutes.  Cut into 3 equal-size pieces, form into smooth balls, cover and let rise for 2 hours before refrigerating for 36-60 hours.  Remove dough balls from refrigerator 60-90 minutes before shaping into disks to make pizza.

 

i’ll report back after tasting the Pizza this weekend!

 

[fafrd]

On 8/7/2019 at 2:38 PM, fafrd said:

 

Perfect - thanks.  

 

Definitely worth a try if the result is distinct.  If it ends up being no different, then that’s more questionable.

 

The kilo of ‘Le 5 Stagioni’ 00 flour I picked up has a recipe on the back for 59% Neopolitan Pizza Dough that I think I will adapt for a 50/50 Biga dough using Forkish’s approach:

 

50% Biga @ 59% hydration:

-250g 00 flour

-147.5g water @ 105F (for 80F target)

-0.2g yeast

Mix, knead, and let rest at room temperature for 12 hours in covered container.

 

100% Dough @ 59% hydration:

-250g 00 flour

-147.5g water @ 93F (for 75F target)

-13g fine sea salt (2.6%)

-397.5g Biga (@ ~75F)

Mix dough by hand and then mix in Biga and integrate by hand.  Let rise 20 minutes then knead for 30-60 seconds, cover smooth dough-ball seam side down and let rise for 45 minutes.  Cut into 3 equal-size pieces, form into smooth balls, cover and let rise for 2 hours before refrigerating for 36-60 hours.  Remove dough balls from refrigerator 60-90 minutes before shaping into disks to make pizza.

 

i’ll report back after tasting the Pizza this weekend!

 

 

There was just enough of a difference to make this Biga Dough worth trying again.

 

It was about twice the effort but resulted is the comments ‘cleaner’ and ‘absolutely no smell of yeast’ when compared to Forkish’s 24-hour dough.

 

What I and the other pizza maker me noticed most was the additional ‘poofiness’/airiness/bubbles in the dough which resulted in more charred bubbles near the edge of the crust:

Biga dough above, and below is the 24-hour dough:

 

 

All the pizzas were delicious and instantly devoured, but there was just enough ‘there there’ to make this Biga dough worth exploring further...

[Nick C]

Do you have photos of what the dough balls look like after they were formed and sat for 2 hours? I just started making this recipe and instead of waiting 2 hours at room temp out straight into the fridge. I'm curious if the yeast will still develop going straight into the cold fridge.

[John Setzler]

2 hours ago, Nick C said:

Do you have photos of what the dough balls look like after they were formed and sat for 2 hours? I just started making this recipe and instead of waiting 2 hours at room temp out straight into the fridge. I'm curious if the yeast will still develop going straight into the cold fridge.

 

I did not but you can go straight to the fridge if you like.  Its not going to make a big difference.

 

[shuley]

I have not tried all of forkish's recipes yet including the bugs, but I have been very please with his other crusts.  So far my favorite is the 24-48 hour dough.  I do all my grocery shopping a week at a time so it's not difficult for me to plan ahead anyway.  I'm going to try his NY dough next.  The question I have is regarding the pizza steel and the kamado.  I have really struggled to cook pizza on a steel in the kamado.  Has anyone been successful with this?

[Keoni]

Thank you for this John -  this recipe and technique is clear, concise and easy to follow.  The result is a beautifully chewy and great-tasting crust.  Thank you again for taking the time to describe so well.  i am looking forward to using it from now on.

 

Keoni

[GPerry]

This is a great post, thanks! Quick question, is there a reason to form into the final dough balls before putting in the fridge? I find it so much easier to form balls with dough cold from the fridge vs at room temp. So I am wondering if the order matters? 

[Fran]

I can’t seem to get a crispy bottom to my pizza.  I’m cooking it in an Ooni pizza oven.  The dough itself tastes great, just want to get the bottom crispy.  Any ideas?

[keeperovdeflame]

18 minutes ago, Fran said:

I can’t seem to get a crispy bottom to my pizza.  I’m cooking it in an Ooni pizza oven.  The dough itself tastes great, just want to get the bottom crispy.  Any ideas?

Hello and welcome Fran. In an Ooni I am thinking your temp is above 600 deg, so it probably not the oven temp. Maybe use an infrared thermometer to see what temp the top of your pizza stone is. But probably the main thing is your dough hydration level. Maybe try the Ken Forkish 24hour dough recipe. By the way, Please stop by the intro thread and let all our members know who you are.

[John Setzler]

2 hours ago, Fran said:

I can’t seem to get a crispy bottom to my pizza.  I’m cooking it in an Ooni pizza oven.  The dough itself tastes great, just want to get the bottom crispy.  Any ideas?

 

You are probably not preheating the oven long enough to give the stone deck time to get heat saturated.  When the IR thermometer shows that stone is at temp, that is only at the surface.  Get the oven hot and hold it there for 20 minutes or longer to give that stone a chance to heat all the way through.