Pane bigio (grey bread)

jotimaz entered a new bread realm – making and using a two-week biga. Biga is a classic Italian starter and is much like a sourdough starter, but it’s used in classic country breads. It’s just a mixture of flour, water and yeast that ferments in the fridge, but it provides such an amazing flavor. You just add a chunk of the biga along with your other ingredients and off you go! This particular bread is called “grey bread” because the whole wheat flour and bran supposedly give it a grey tinge.

Wow! I wish I could have captured the aroma in the house while these beautiful loaves were baking. I can’t even describe how wonderful the flavor of this bread was. It was just yeasty and natural and lovely. The crust was to die for – jotimaz let me have the ends just so I could enjoy the flavor of the crust in its entirety. =)

If you’re up for some awesome country bread, I would definitely look into starting a biga. Be aware that the whole process is extended for almost an hour more because of some additional rising and baking time. It’s well worth it though!