Biga On The Banks Cornbread Recipes

Steps:

• 1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. 2. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. 3. Combine buttermilk, oil and eggs in a bowl and whisk to combine well. 4. In a large bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 5. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk together until combined. 6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place on the middle rack in the oven. 7. Bake for 45 minutes, or up to 1 hour, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle.

Steps:

• Sprinkle yeast onto the 1/4 cup warm water and let stand approximately 10 minutes until creamy.
• Add rest of water, stir.
• Add flour, one cup at a time and stir.
• Mix with wooden spoon for approximately.
• 4 minutes.
• Oil a bowl three times as large as the mixture's volume and scrape dough into that bowl.
• Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 8-24 hours in a cool room or until triple in volume.
• The longer it sits, the more character it develops.
• If you let it go too long, it will take on sour overtones similar to sourdough starter as a result of the acidic by-products of yeast metabolism.
• If the room is cool enough--60-65 deg.
• F, 24 hours will yield a nice, mellow-flavored biga.
• You only need your first biga to get started.
• Then it is simply a matter of making bread at least once a week or so if you have refrigeration to keep the biga alive.
• If you don't have refrigeration, you would want to make bread every day and save a portion of the new dough you make each day as a starter for tomorrow's bread.
• Just take that portion BEFORE you add salt to the new bread dough.
• In this case, you would keep tomorrow's starter at room temperature.
• Use as you would a sourdough starter.
• For a rough guide, use approximately one cup of biga for a bread recipe calling for 7-8 cups of flour.

Steps:

• Place the warm water in a small bowl, and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Let stand until yeast has dissolved and is foamy, about 15 minutes.
• Measure flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the center, and pour in the yeast mixture and cold water. Use a sturdy spoon to mix it together until sticky and difficult to stir, but nevertheless thoroughly combined. Cover and allow to ferment for 24 hours in the refrigerator before using.
• Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. To use, rinse a measuring cup in cool water, scoop out the amount of starter needed, and bring to room temperature.