Italian Country Bread With Biga

Biga is a starter, almost similar to sourdough but not quite.The bread has
a flavorful, yeasty beery quality. So 10 to 12 hours before you want the
bread, mix the 1 tsp. yeast in the water and let it bubble and foam. Mix in
the flour gradually to make a soft almost soupy dough. Cover and it will
rise and triple in volume and then fall back and re-rise during the 6 to 8
hours you let it be. Then make the bread. Stir the salt right into the biga
mixture, mix in the additional water ( cold or cool not warm ) until it is
a thin soupy quality. Mix in the flour to make a firm but soft dough which
leaves the sides of the bowl. Turn out to a floured surface and knead
dough, adding additional flour if necessary to make a smooth dry dough.
Place dough in a bowl, greased with olive oil, cover and let rise doubled
about 2 hours. Punch dough down and knead it into a flat oval. cut in half
and form each half into a baguette and let them rest covered with a towel
for 30 minutes. then stretch them into longer baguette shapes and place
them in a baguette baking tray if you have it. Let rest for 20 minutes.
then slash tops and place into a preheated 450 oven for 20 minutes or done.
If you don’t have a baguette tray any baking sheet or baking stone will do.
You also could shape the breads in one large round loaf instead of 2
baguettes. Bake the one large loaf 10 to 15 minutes longer. Note: since
this bread is fat free eat the same day or freeze as it stales quickly.