About

I'm João, and I've been making Neapolitan-style pizza at home for a couple of years, more recently moving towards the contemporary style. My setup has slowly grown into something close to a professional one. Along the way I tried most of the dough calculators out there. None of them handled biga properly, or they required some kind of subscription (a paid one, or at least creating an account), which in my opinion makes no sense for something this simple. So I made my own calculator, and decided to share it online, always free.

The problem with most calculators

A biga dough has two fermentations: the biga ferments on its own first, then the final dough ferments again after mixing. Each has its own time and temperature. The yeast that grows in the biga keeps working in the final dough, which also gets a small boost of fresh yeast. Most calculators treat the whole thing as one dough with one fermentation time, so the yeast amounts they give don't match the schedule. Others are buggy: values that don't update, or inputs that get ignored.

How this calculator works

It is built on a professional 100% biga recipe in the style of Vincenzo Capuano, as taught by Gabriel Reboul, which I use and bake regularly. With the default settings, the calculator gives exactly that recipe. When you change the times and temperatures, it scales the yeast for the biga and for the final dough separately.

The fermentation model is a simplification. Yeast, flour and kitchens all vary, so treat the timings as a starting point and adjust from your own bakes.

My setup

• Ooni Halo Pro spiral mixer
• Breville (Sage in Europe) Pizzaiolo oven, stone at 410–420°C
• A small wine fridge to hold fermentation at 18°C
• Caputo flour

Free, always

No accounts, no subscriptions, no paywalls. Everything runs in your browser and nothing you enter is sent anywhere.

Independent

This is a personal project. It isn't affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Vincenzo Capuano, Gabriel Reboul, or any of the brands mentioned on the site. They're credited because the recipe follows their approach, or because it's the equipment and flour I use.

Get in touch

General questions, or just to say hello: hello@bigapizzacalculator.com

Ideas, bugs or a result that looks wrong: feedback@bigapizzacalculator.com