Frequently asked questions

Because none of them handled biga properly. A biga dough ferments twice: first the biga, then the final dough, each with its own time and temperature. The yeast that grows in the biga keeps working in the final dough, which also gets a small yeast boost. Most calculators treat it as one dough with one fermentation time, so their yeast amounts don't match the schedule. Others are buggy, or sit behind a subscription. This one sizes the biga yeast and the final dough yeast boost separately, is built on a recipe that's baked and tested regularly, and is free.

No. This is an independent, personal project. Vincenzo Capuano and Gabriel Reboul are credited because the reference recipe follows their approach, but they aren't involved with or endorsing this site. The same goes for the equipment and ingredient brands mentioned, such as Ooni, Breville (Sage) and Caputo: they're simply what the recipe was tested with. Nobody sponsors this site, and there are no affiliate links.

Yes, and it will stay that way. No account, no subscription, no paywall. Everything runs in your browser.

From a professional 100% biga recipe in the style of Vincenzo Capuano, as taught by Gabriel Reboul: 50% biga hydration, 70% total hydration, 0.3% fresh yeast in the biga for 24 hours at 18°C and 0.1% in the final dough for 18–24 hours at 18°C. With the default settings the calculator gives exactly that recipe. When you change the times and temperatures, it scales the yeast from there.

They're a well-grounded starting point, not a guarantee. Flour, yeast freshness, water and real temperatures vary from kitchen to kitchen. If your dough is consistently ahead of or behind schedule, adjust the yeast a little next time, or switch to setting the yeast yourself.

The calculator converts every fermentation step into the hours it would take at 18°C. Yeast works about twice as fast at 28°C and about 0.4 times as fast at 4°C, so 10 hours in the fridge counts as about 4 hours at 18°C. That lets it compare schedules that mix warm, cool and fridge steps.

Because that's how dough is usually described: a 70% dough has 700 g of water per kg of flour in total. The calculator subtracts the water already in the biga and tells you how much to add in the final dough.

Your settings are kept in the page address. Use Copy link to save or share it: opening the link gives the same recipe. Nothing is stored on a server.

An Italian pre-ferment: a stiff mix of flour, water and a little yeast, mixed without kneading and fermented before it goes into the final dough. It gives pizza more flavour and a softer, airier crumb.

Usually around 50%, which is stiff and shaggy. Some recipes go to 60%, but a wetter biga ferments faster and is best kept cold.

Contemporary Neapolitan recipes often use 100% biga: all the flour goes in the biga and the final dough adds only water, salt, oil and yeast. Lower shares, such as 30–75%, give a milder biga character. The calculator handles anything from 30% to 100%.

Yes. At around 4°C, yeast works at roughly 0.4 times its pace at 18°C, so 18 hours at 18°C is about the same as 47 hours in the fridge. Enter the fridge temperature as the biga temperature and the calculator sizes the yeast.

It has grown a little and looks puffier, smells pleasantly sour and slightly alcoholic, and is full of small bubbles when you break it. If it smells sharply of acetone or has collapsed, it's gone too far.

Ferment somewhere cooler and steadier if you can: a wine fridge at 18°C is ideal, or the fridge. Otherwise enter your real temperature and the calculator lowers the yeast. Use ice-cold water when mixing the final dough so it stays below 24°C.

About 0.3% fresh yeast, as a percentage of the biga flour, at 18°C. For 1 kg of flour that is 3 g of fresh yeast, or about 1.2 g of active dry and 1 g of instant. Change the time or temperature in the calculator and it adjusts the yeast.

A small amount of extra yeast, around 0.1% of the flour, added when you mix the biga into the final dough. Most of the rise after mixing comes from the yeast that grew in the biga; the boost helps the final fermentation along. The calculator scales it with the final fermentation: a shorter or colder schedule gets a little more, a longer one a little less.

Yes. Use about 0.4 g of active dry or 0.33 g of instant yeast for every 1 g of fresh. Choose your yeast type in the calculator and it converts the amounts.

Not with this calculator. A biga is made with commercial yeast, and the fermentation model is built around it. Sourdough behaves differently and needs its own approach.

A strong flour made for long fermentations. It has to hold up through the biga and the final dough. Italian pizza flours are labelled for this.

It helps a lot, but it isn't required. A spiral mixer develops the dough quickly while keeping it cool. A stand mixer or kneading by hand works too, but takes longer: Gabriel Reboul suggests 25–40 minutes on a single-speed machine. Watch the dough temperature.

Around 23–24°C for a 70% dough, and never above 26°C. Wetter doughs do better cooler, around 19–21°C. Ice-cold water is the easiest way to control it.

As hot as your oven allows. The reference recipe is baked in a Breville (Sage) Pizzaiolo with the stone at 410–420°C. In a home oven at lower temperatures, a little diastatic malt can help the crust brown.