White Bread with 80% Biga

This is a great loaf! The bulk of your dough is pre-fermented which gives fantastic flavor. The biga is a bit stiff making this an easier dough to work with compared to some of the other high hydration doughs in the book. On bake day I divided my dough after the initial mixing and added olives to half during my first fold. My dough needed a bit longer in the proofing basket but had great oven spring, nice open crumb and a crisp, crackly dark golden crust. This may be my new favorite recipe from this book and I will be making it again. The olive loaf was delicious and I think this dough lends itself to many different add ins. Made this 6/13/21 with a scant cup of black and green olives. Did not reduce salt but if using more olives (which the loaf could def handle) I would cut the salt a tiny bit. The crust was super thin and crisp, with a creamy interior and open crumb.
1/21/24 I continue to make and love this recipe. It is also highly adaptable - today I added rye and some whole wheat flour with wonderful results.