Ciabatta Bread.

worth1 · #1

Not really following a set recipe this will probably be a disaster.
Just sort of doing it out of memory.
What I did was just use all purpose floor to keep it simple.
Approximately 3 cups plus a teaspoon of salt.
3 teaspoons of yeast and a pinch of sugar in a cup of warm water to proof.
Put oil in a big bowl to mix in the water yeast mix and another cup of warm water.
Mixed it all up to make the sponge and put it in a smaller bowl with the sides oied and oil on the bottom.
This oil is extra virgin olive oil naturally.
Covered and set aside the rest of the day.
No idea how this will turn out.
But it's cold and I like Ciabata bread.

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worth1 · #2

Sponge out in the cold garage doing it's thing.

Naturally it's covered in plastic wrap that i took off for the picture.

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Toomanymatoes · #3

Love ciabatta! The wettest dough I ever work with. Can't even really work with it, just a lot of plopping.

I follow this recipe:
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2984/ ... atta-bread

pepperhead212 · #4

Bread has always been one of the biggest rip-offs in supermarkets - the reason I started baking it in the 70s! And I quickly learned that it tastes much better, too, when you make it yourself.

The only time I've bought bread was when I used to buy it, on the way over to my Mom's house. The first time she asked me to do that I played a joke on her. I put a paper bag over my head, with holes cut out to see through, and walked into her house with the bread, and told her I had to put a bag over my head, so nobody would see me buying the bread. I got a laugh out of her with that.

Sue_CT · #5

This is the last of my favorite Ciabatta roll in the freezer. Never even realized there were heating instructions on it, lol. I always toast them in the toaster oven which has a "bagel" setting, and it toasts the top and heats the bottom but leaves the bottom soft. For 2.69 or whatever they cost, when they have them, they are worth the price for the savings of time and effort. I don't like all ciabatta (I was spelling it wrong before), just these. A lot of ciabatta have hard crunchy crusts, which is not my preference. I look forward to seeing how yours turn out, Worth. Actually in the picture it looks like there is black pepper in the dough, although I know it must just be bubbles or something.

Ciabatta rolls

Sue_CT · #6

One of those, toasted, with butter, eaten with the Mexican style Shakshuka, was sooo good.

I hope you come up with a fabulous recipe, Worth.

pepperhead212 · #7

All this talk about ciabatta reminds me of a show I saw recently, about pour in pan pizza, in which the dough is basically a ciabatta, with 89% hydration. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks interesting, and I thought some of you might also find this interesting.
https://www.177milkstreet.com/2020/08/p ... -pan-pizza

rossomendblot · #8

We prove the dough in square plastic containers so you can just plop it out and not have to do much shaping. The dough is very wet and sticky so hard to deal with and you don't want to disturb to much so you get nice air pockets in the bread.

worth1 · #9

So far I've seen so many styles techniques and methods it boggles the mind.
Even worse they all claim the (right) method.
I totally got lost as of what to do next.

worth1 · #10

I kind of sort of followed this guy's recipe and technique without all the fancy measurements.

The sponge was most of the flour and I just added enough flour to make it the proper consistency.
Plus a little more yeast.
Also I let the sponge stay our covered overnight and not in the refrigerator.
But it's true if you continue to run the dough in the mixer it will eventually release from the sides of the bowl.
Just give it time.

Mine are in loaf molds proofing.
The stand mixer takes about 2 hours off the process.
I watch a lot of this guy's videos.
He knows what he's doing.
And yes mine will be baked in the small loaf molds so they aren't officially ciabatta rolls.
My house my rules.

worth1 · #11

You can see how smooth the dough is.
Not out of the woods yet.

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worth1 · #12

I didn't have anything to lose so the experiment continues.
I flipped the 4 individual breads upside down out of the bread pan onto a baking sheet and formed them gently.
They all went flat because of how wet they were.
Oven set at 425 pre heated.
By darn they puffed right up.
Simply amazing.

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worth1 · #13

Took the bread out after 20 minutes brushed the excess flour off and brushed on some extra virgin olive oil.
Back in oven temperature turned down for 6 minutes.
Back out of the oven to let cool.

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worth1 · #14

What it didn't do was make the giant air pockets but it has a light and fluffy crumb and there are a few here and there.
Disturbing the dough out of the mold did that.
I couldn't ask for anything more.
Also the crust is crispy but not rock hard.
Having one with butter on it for breakfast.

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Sue_CT · #15

Looks like a good recipe, I bet it tastes good, but a lot of work. Did you use any steam in the oven? I was thinking I could get a soft crust by omitting that.

worth1 · #16

I put a pan with water in it but a small pan not a big wide pan.
I absolutely despise the hard French Baggett.
If I wanted fire wood I'd go out and chop some.
The olive oil at the last helps soften the crust and adds flavor.

I was considering not going through with it this morning but decided to plow through it.
I'm glad I did.
I also left out the process of flipping and flopping the dough on a cutting board with a big sheetrock mud spreader.

Sue_CT · #17

What do you mean about the fire wood?

worth1 · #18

Sue_CT wrote: ↑Sun Nov 13, 2022 10:40 am What do you mean about the fire wood?

The French Baguett has a very hard crust and is skinny.
More like a long baseball bat.
Not a fan.

pepperhead212 · #19

I don't like those skinny baguetts, either. They have to be at least 3½" thick, for me.

One way to bake dinner bread, that is simple and results in good, but not rock hard crust, is baking it in a cast iron Dutch oven, lined with parchment. And I also start almost all of my breads with some sort of preferment, which gives it that extra fermented flavor.

pepperhead212 · #20

I made a batch of bread to eat with the soup today. This discussion got me thinking about the ciabatta, though this bread didn't really get the open mesh - probably because it was more hurried than usual - only took 5 hrs, start to finish. Has 40% ww flour, and 83% hydration, so it was very wet! I baked it in the small CI Dutch oven, lined with parchment.

Bread dough, made in food processor, rising. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Risen bread dough, poured into CI pan, on top of parchment. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Bread dough rising more, before putting it in the 425 degree convection oven, for 40 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Bread cooked 30 minutes, before removing the lid, and reducing heat to 350. temp was only to 190 degrees. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished bread, reaching 203 degrees. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished bread, cooling. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Not open mesh, like ciapatta should be, but very light, and absorbent, to eat with the soup. by pepperhead212, on Flickr