Making Ciabatta
Overview:
- This recipe takes a full day from start to finish and should make one large loaf.
- The advantage of just doing one loaf is you don't have to divide the dough, which makes things much easier.
- The first stage is making a starter which takes about 15 hours to mature.
- You need a stand mixer or you're gonna have a bad time. The dough is very sticky and near impossible to work by hand.
Technical challenges:
- Finding the balance between having a slack, airy dough and having dough that will rise without spreading too much.
- Timing the final rise so that the loaves do not collapse.
Ingredients:
Starter:
118g flour
89g cool water
1/16 tspn active dry yeast or instant yeast
Dough:
Starter, all of it
118g flour
89g lukewarm water
2/3 tspn active dry yeast or instant yeast (approx, 1 tspn is fine)
1 tspn salt
Steps:
1. Combine the starter ingredients in a bowl and let sit 15 hours or overnight. Mix well.
~Next day~
2. Add additional lukewarm water to starter. Mix dough dry ingredients in a bowl and add everything to stand mixer bowl.
3. Mix it with the stand mixer flat attachment until it's silky smooth and extremely stretchy.
4. Pour dough into a big container and let rise for 1 hour.
5. Deflate and let rise another hour.
6. Turn out onto a liberally floured surface. Shape into a loaf.
7. Transfer onto parchment, cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap, and let rise about 45 minutes.
8. Dimple dough with fingers (helps if you cover fingers in flour 1st), re-cover, and let rise another 45 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 500F (heat baking stone and cast iron if using).
9. Spritz dough with water (or add steam to oven via cast iron), and bake for 22-25 minutes or until golden brown.
10. When cooling, put finished bread on bare oven rack once oven is turned off, with over door open.
Making Ciabatta
Overview:
- This recipe takes a full day from start to finish and should make one large loaf.
- The advantage of just doing one loaf is you don't have to divide the dough, which makes things much easier.
- The first stage is making a starter which takes about 15 hours to mature.
- You need a stand mixer or you're gonna have a bad time. The dough is very sticky and near impossible to work by hand.
Technical challenges:
- Finding the balance between having a slack, airy dough and having dough that will rise without spreading too much.
- Timing the final rise so that the loaves do not collapse.
Ingredients:
Starter:
118g flour
89g cool water
1/16 tspn active dry yeast or instant yeast
Dough:
Starter, all of it
118g flour
89g lukewarm water
2/3 tspn active dry yeast or instant yeast (approx, 1 tspn is fine)
1 tspn salt
Steps:
1. Combine the starter ingredients in a bowl and let sit 15 hours or overnight. Mix well.
~Next day~
2. Add additional lukewarm water to starter. Mix dough dry ingredients in a bowl and add everything to stand mixer bowl.
3. Mix it with the stand mixer flat attachment until it's silky smooth and extremely stretchy.
4. Pour dough into a big container and let rise for 1 hour.
5. Deflate and let rise another hour.
6. Turn out onto a liberally floured surface. Shape into a loaf.
7. Transfer onto parchment, cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap, and let rise about 45 minutes.
8. Dimple dough with fingers (helps if you cover fingers in flour 1st), re-cover, and let rise another 45 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 500F (heat baking stone and cast iron if using).
9. Spritz dough with water (or add steam to oven via cast iron), and bake for 22-25 minutes or until golden brown.
10. When cooling, put finished bread on bare oven rack once oven is turned off, with over door open.
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