The Bread Project #2

Ciabatta Bread 

For my second bread attempt, I went with the Italian classic Ciabatta. "Ciabatta" in Italian means slipper , and I suppose this bread kind of looks like a big comfy winter slipper. According to wikipedia this bread was created in the Veneto region as a reaction to the increasing use of  French baguettes to make sandwiches. The Italians decided they need to have their own version of sandwich bread and so hence the ciabatta loaf was born.

I looked at a few different recipes and they were all more or the less the same. They called for a mixer like a KitchenAid. It felt a little strange  using a mixer instead of  kneading the dough myself. I felt like I was cheating on the bread making process. However, all that high speed mixing is what gives it the airy consistency and so it would be impossible to do by hand. (And really I love any excuse to my KitchenAid and so it was a good reason to also try out the hook attachment for the first time.)  

This dough is a "wet" dough. As I was mixing it, I kept thinking I should add more flour because it was so sticky. However it is supposed to be like that. The recipe said that the dough should start to climb up the hook of the mixer and just as it's about to go over that's when you need to stop mixing. I had the mixer on for over 10 minutes and I still didn't see the dough climb. I was worried that I made a mistake in the recipe, that it was too runny, and that I had over mixed it. I sure it was going to be a flop. 

I put the dough in a bowl and set it aside to rise until it was 3 times the original size. It was cool to see how all the mixing made the dough porous-like.

After rising for over 2 hours, I formed the dough into loaves and let is rest for another hour before going in the oven. I felt like my loaves were a little small, however quite a bit of dough was lost in the mixing bowl and the white bowl because it was so sticky. 

Putting flour down to form the loaves helped a lot. 

Looks good! I baked it just right this time. It had a lovely outer crispy crunchy crust. 

And the texture on the inside was perfect! However after Luca and I bit into the fresh warm baked bread we both said it was delicious but something wasn't quite right..... I FORGOT THE SALT!  If I had remembered the salt it would have been absolutely perfect. However that night we had cold cuts and so the salty prosciutto and mortadella were a perfect match for the bread.

This is the recipe I followed from Foodienarium: 

Quick And Easy To Make Italian Ciabatta

Serves: 2 ciabattas       Prep: 15 mins       Cook: 25 mins     Ready In: 4 hrs 40 mins

Ingredients

• 500 grams all-purpose flour (4 cups)
• 475 grams water (~2 cups + 2 tbsp)
• 2 tsp dry yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 
  

Instructions

1. Mix all ingredients in a mixer with the paddle and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
2. Knead the dough with the same paddle at high speed. It will take about 8-10 minutes. Somewhere in the middle of the process I change the paddle to the dough hook. To the end of the process the dough starts to leave off the walls, they will become kind of cleaner. When this starts to happen, closely watch the process. Next, the dough will begin to properly ‘climb’ the hook. Catch the moment before it will climb above the hook and turn off the mixer.
3. Move the dough into a bowl well-greased with oil and close with the cling film. Let the dough rise in a warm place. It will take about 2.5 hours. The dough must triple in size!
4. Then throw out the dough onto a work surface really well-covered with flour. Divide the dough into 2 pieces and shape the ciabattas. Poke them a little with your fingers. Sprinkle them generously with flour, cover dough with a plastic bag and leave it for 45 minutes.
5. At this time, warm the oven with a baking stone to 230C (500F). Also put a pan for water on the bottom. By the way, I use a usual stair tiles instead of the stone and that works well for me.
6. Next, you need to turn the ciabattas and put them into the oven. I put the baking paper on the plank, sprinkle it with flour and lay ciabattas on it. Then I tap paper with ciabattas on the rocks from this plank right onto the stone. Also pour a cup of boiling water into the pan at the bottom of the oven, cover it, and bake the ciabattas for 15-20 minutes.
7. When the ciabattas are ready, put them on the wire rack and let them cool.