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Pizza calculator

Poolish & Biga Calculator

Choose a poolish or a biga, set your dough, and get what to mix the night before and what to add on baking day.

Pizza dough balls proofing in a floured tray
Preferment

Ooni's poolish dough: a third of the flour in a 100% hydration poolish, fermented about 12 hours.

g
%
%
%

33% of the flour (316 g) goes into the poolish with the same weight of water. Most poolish doughs use 20–50%.

%
Salt2.9%
%

Ooni's recipes use 2.2–2.9% salt. Most pizza doughs fall between 2% and 3%.

Your dough

Makes 6 dough balls of 260 g (9.2 oz) each.

Total dough
1560 g55.0 oz
Per ball
260 g9.2 oz
Hydration
60%water : flour

Step 1: poolish

  • Flour100%'00' or bread flour · ≈ 2 3/4 cups316 g11.1 oz
  • Water100%≈ 1 1/4 cups + 1 tbsp316 g11.1 oz
  • Instant yeast0.57%≈ 1/2 tsp1.8 g0.06 oz

Step 2: final dough

  • Poolish66.2%all of it, from step 1633 g22.3 oz
  • Flour67%≈ 5 1/2 cups641 g22.6 oz
  • Water27%≈ 1 cup + 1 tbsp258 g9.1 oz
  • Salt (table)2.9%≈ 1 1/2 tbsp28 g0.98 oz
Total formula, preferment included
IngredientWeightBaker's %
Total flour957 g100%
Total water574 g60%
Salt28 g2.9%
Instant yeast1.8 g0.188%
Prefermented flour316 g33%

Step 1 percentages are of the preferment's own flour; step 2 percentages are of all the flour. Cups and spoons are approximate, based on King Arthur Baking's ingredient weights ('00' flour, 116 g per cup); a kitchen scale gives the best results.

How it works

A preferment recipe is written in baker's percentages of the total flour, and the poolish or biga is part of the dough: its flour counts as flour and its water counts as water. The calculator works out the total flour from the dough you want, sets aside the preferment's share, and adds the rest on baking day:

total flour = total dough ÷ (1 + hydration% + salt% + prefermented flour% × yeast%)

preferment flour = total flour × prefermented flour%

preferment water = preferment flour × 100% (poolish) or biga hydration%

The flour you add on baking day is total flour minus the preferment flour, and the water you add is total water minus the preferment water. The yeast is a percentage of the preferment flour, because that is the flour it has to ferment overnight.

Worked example

  1. Four 250 g balls = 1,000 g of dough at 65% hydration and 2% salt, with 30% of the flour in a poolish and 0.2% instant yeast.
  2. Total flour = 1,000 ÷ (1 + 0.65 + 0.02 + 0.30 × 0.002) = 1,000 ÷ 1.6706 = 598.6 g.
  3. Poolish = 598.6 × 0.30 = 179.6 g flour + 179.6 g water + 179.6 × 0.002 = 0.4 g yeast.
  4. Final dough: flour = 598.6 − 179.6 = 419 g, water = 598.6 × 0.65 − 179.6 =209.5 g, salt = 598.6 × 0.02 = 12 g, plus all 359.5 g of poolish.
  5. Check: 359.5 + 419 + 209.5 + 12 = 1,000 g.

The two presets are Ooni's published recipes converted to baker's percentages. Poolish: 350 g '00' flour, 350 g water and 2 g instant yeast, then 700 g flour, 280 g water and 30 g salt, divided into 260 g balls (60% hydration, 2.9% salt, 33% prefermented flour, 0.57% yeast).Biga: 1,000 g flour, 540 g water and 4 g fresh yeast, then 180 g water and 22 g salt, divided into 250 g balls (72% hydration, 2.2% salt, 100% prefermented flour, 54% biga water, 0.4% yeast). Ooni's biga also uses 22 g of optional diastatic malt, which is left out here.

FAQ

What is the difference between a poolish and a biga?

Both are flour, water and a little yeast mixed hours ahead of the dough. A poolish is wet, with equal weights of flour and water (100% hydration), so it ferments quickly and is easy to mix in. A biga is stiff, usually 45–55% water, so it ferments more slowly and gives a drier, more structured dough. Ooni ferments its poolish for about 12 hours and its biga for 16.

How much of the flour should go into the preferment?

Anywhere from about 20% to 100%. Ooni's poolish dough puts a third of the flour into the poolish, and its biga dough puts all of it into the biga. More preferment gives more flavor and a faster final rise. With a poolish there is a limit: its water is equal to its flour, so the poolish share can't be higher than the dough's hydration.

Does the hydration include the water in the poolish or biga?

Yes. Hydration here is all the water divided by all the flour, preferment included. A 60% dough with a third of its flour in a poolish already has 33% water in the poolish, so the final mix adds only the other 27%.

Do I add more yeast to the final dough?

Not in these recipes. All the yeast goes into the preferment, as in both Ooni recipes, and it carries on working in the final dough. If you use a very small preferment or a short final rise, some bakers add a pinch of yeast to the final mix as well.

Can I swap fresh yeast for instant or active dry yeast?

Yes. Use one third of the fresh yeast weight in instant or active dry yeast, the ratio King Arthur Baking gives. The calculator converts the amount for you when you change the yeast type.

Sources