Biga: Why the window pane test can be a warning sign

In numerous pizza videos on the subject of biga, the ‘perfect’ window pane test impresses those new to making pizza dough. “Only by passing the window test right at the end of your kneading process will your Biga pizza dough turn out perfectly,” is often the message from many influencers. Of course, dough looks impressive when it can be stretched so beautifully and elastically right at the end of the kneading phase. But this doesn’t apply to every type of dough, and certainly not to Biga.

And so the keen amateur pizza chef kneads their biga dough with high-gluten pizza flour (protein content over 13 %) until, when the dough is brought together, it passes the window pane test. They then proudly pull the pizza out of the oven. The pizza is rubbery rather than soft and delicately crisp. The big head-scratching begins…

Why a rubbery crust instead of a delicately crispy pizza crust??

Whilst kneading, the keen amateur pizza maker made a technical error. A biga is not a direct dough. Structurally, a biga works differently to a direct dough. With a biga, a large proportion of the gluten development takes place in the pre-dough. Therefore, when making pizza dough using a biga, you cannot follow the same rules as you would for a direct dough. With a direct dough, the gluten network must first be formed during the kneading process. Biga, however, already possesses a highly developed gluten structure by its very nature.

Our amateur pizza maker’s biga dough was therefore simply over-kneaded; the gluten structure was overdeveloped during the kneading process – kneaded ‘too perfectly’, so to speak. If a biga is over-kneaded when the dough is brought together, the gluten network becomes extremely dense and tight, resulting in a rubbery texture when baked.

It was only because a high-performance pizza flour was used that the flour was able to compensate for this mistake. The over-kneading therefore went unnoticed due to the flour used. And the window test was, after all, apparently ‘successful’.

Why the window pane test is misleading in this case

• The window pane test measures maximum elasticity and uniformity. A perfect window often indicates a very tightly stretched and dense gluten structure. This results in a rubbery texture and little to no crispness
• At Biga, a perfect window pane test is more of a warning sign than a goal
• The misconception: ‘Better window test’ = better pizza. With biga, the opposite tends to be true: gluten that’s too perfect = poorer texture

How do you knead biga dough properly using a stand mixer?

The experienced Italian pizza chef finishes the dough by adding the remaining water and other ingredients – such as salt, additional flour if necessary, and diastatic malt – to the biga. Once all the ingredients have been mixed together after a few minutes, he looks out for the ‘dough moment’.

This is a brief moment when the dough is not yet perfectly developed, but has already acquired a smooth texture. The ‘window test’ would still fail at this stage. And that is intentional. With biga, the aim is not to finish the dough with a perfect window test. Finishing the biga is about rehydrating, combining and building up the dough.

The actual kneading time for a biga until the ‘dough moment’ is only around 8–15 minutes, depending on the machine. However, many inexperienced bakers knead their dough for 25–30 minutes until it passes the desired ‘window test’.

Why the Bigat dough appears ‘unfinished’ after such a short time

Once the ‘dough stage’ has been reached after 8–15 minutes, leave the dough to rest in the machine for 15 minutes. After these 15 minutes, you will notice that the gluten has relaxed significantly. A window pane test on the worktop, as shown in my video, is then possible and does not ‘harm’ the subsequent baking result.

Note: Time trumps kneading time. The more the Biga dough relaxes, the less tension remains in the gluten, allowing it to be shaped perfectly into a pizza that is delicately crispy yet soft.