Our Food Philosophy
At Bigalora, we feed you like family.
The food that we serve reflects our passion for making healthy, high-quality food, the kind that we feed to our own family. We are truly a scratch kitchen, making virtually everything that we serve in house. It’s not always easy, but we know that working harder means better, healthier food. There is a comfort in this.
Our Traditions: The Start of a Delicious Meal
Our kitchens spring to life early every morning when our skilled bakers arrive to begin mixing the dough and feed the biga – a ritual they have performed daily since 2010. As the dough is resting, more cooks arrive to begin slow braising meats for our pasta sauces and chopping and roasting vegetables for pizza toppings.
Our healthy food philosophy extends to our entire menu of small plates, soups, salads, pastas, and desserts including our house made gelato and sorbetto.
Our Sourdough Pizza is Better for You
At Bigalora, we are all about the pizza! And great pizza starts with great dough.
The “Biga” Great Taste
Bigalora is Michigan’s first naturally fermented sourdough pizza. The word “biga” in Italian means sourdough starter. Every dough ball that we make begins with a biga – no commercial yeast or sugar – and a 72-hour fermentation, before being charred to perfection for 90 seconds in our 900-degree ovens.
The long, slow fermentation creates a crust that is light and airy, with a satisfying flavor and just a hint of tang from the sourdough.
Pizza that is Actually Good for You
Sourdough is one of the original slow foods, and the fermentation process yields a number of health benefits. The slow fermentation improves the bioavailability of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that are naturally found in wheat flour, making them easier for the body to absorb. And the long fermentation breaks down gluten, making the dough easier to digest.
We also feature a number of vegetarian and vegan pizza options that follow a more Mediterranean style of eating, which has been shown to have a number of long-term health benefits.
Why Bigalora is Different
UNBROMATED FLOUR
We only use unbromated flour for our pizza and focaccia. Potassium bromate is a common dough conditioner that has been banned in Europe, Canada and even China for its links to cancer, but unfortunately is still widely used in the United States in many breads and baked goods.
SOURDOUGH STARTER-NO SUGAR
We maintain the sourdough starter for our pizza dough which is more flavorful and better for digestion than a commercially yeasted pizza. And we do not use any sugar in our pizza or focaccia dough.
SLOW ROASTED TOMATOES
We slow roast our oven roasted tomatoes – it’s a labor of love to make these from scratch, a 12-hour process that beings with 7 pounds of fresh Roma tomatoes to yield just one pound of roasted tomatoes. But this process not only creates better flavor than commercially-roasted tomatoes, it is also preservative free.
SCRATCH SAUCES
Our pasta sauces are made from scratch in-house.
SHRED OUR OWN CHEESE
We shred our cheese in-house rather than buy pre-shredded mozzarella, which includes anti-caking agents made from wood pulp. Gross.
SLOW BRAISED MEATBALLS
Our meatballs are house-made with slow braised beef.
MORE HOMEMADE STUFF
We make all our own gelato and sorbetto in house – we even make our own coffee reduction to flavor the espresso gelato, so it’s made with real coffee and no artificial flavoring.
Our own hazelnut spread is used for our dessert pizza. We don’t go through a lot of it in a week and it would be an easy item to buy, but it just tastes better when it’s made from scratch.
OUTSIDE INGREDIENTS SHARE OUR PHILOSOPHY
We seek out ingredient sources and purveyors who share our same food philosophy, including:
· King Arthur Flour
· Zoe’s meats and pepperoni, with no added nitrates
· Hot Haus Farm tomatoes (Canton, Michigan)
· Buf Creamery fresh mozzarella