Inside the Biga, our not-so-secret recipe
5.0pH. 12 hours of proofing at 24°C. The numbers behind every Forbici pizza, and why the wait matters.
If you've spotted our little code, 5.0pH · 12H · 24°C, that's the recipe. Not the whole recipe, but the part of it that decides everything else. It's the biga.
What is a biga?
A biga is a pre-ferment, a small batch of flour, water, and a touch of yeast left to itself for hours before the main dough is mixed. It does two things at once: builds an open, airy crumb, and turns wheat into something that tastes like wheat.
The numbers
5.0pH means the dough has acidified to a precise window where the gluten is at its strongest. 12H is how long we wait. 24°C is the room. None of these are decorative, change any of them and the cornicione (crust) never gets to where we want it.
“The dough doesn't care if you're in a hurry. So we don't hurry the dough.”
Why three generations?
Each day's bake carries a small piece of yesterday's dough into the next. Yesterday's carried the day before. By the time you eat one of our pizzas, the wild yeast in the dough has been alive and working for longer than most. Three generations of starter dough, three generations of flavour.
That's the not-so-secret recipe. The secret is the team that makes it twice a day, every day. Come find them at the counter.
