Creating a yeast-based starter is the first step in making artisan-style bread at home

Full of holes inside, often misshapen outside – you have to know these Italian breads to love them. But rip off a chunk, savor the complex wheat flavor and chewy texture, and you know why the West’s artisan bakeries have created a huge following for the loaves. Breads of this style may be called pane pugliese, pane francese, ciabatta, or other names, but they all have three things in common: a yeast-based starter called a biga, a very wet dough, and a slow rise.

A biga is just flour, water, and a tiny amount of yeast stirred together several hours or a day before baking and allowed to ferment. Unlike a sourdough starter, which is replenished and kept going indefinitely, a biga is made fresh each time you bake (you can make enough for a couple of loaves and freeze the extra to use within two weeks).

Though a biga doesn’t create a sour taste, it provides other benefits like those from a sourdough starter: well-developed flavor, moist texture, and good keeping quality.

The wet dough used to make this bread is responsible for its large, irregular holes and wonderfully chewy texture. The dough is so sticky you can’t knead it on a board – you must use a food processor or a heavy-duty mixer.

Slowing down the rising process helps develop the bread’s complex flavor and aroma. Professional bakers put dough in temperature-controlled retarders. At home, you use ice water in the dough to keep it cool, and let the dough rise at room temperature rather than in the warm spot recommended in most bread recipes.

For a classic Italian-style bread, for a nontraditional (and delicious) variation, add olive oil, a generous amount of basil, and tangy feta cheese.

Italian Biga Bread