Ciabatta Bread

Now to my favorite aspect of cooking - bread. Since deciding to try to live a little cleaner (in terms of what we put into our bodies), we figured we wanted to forego crappy supermarket bread. So, I am working on a sourdough starter, but that is taking a week (more on this in a later post), so I needed a 'faster' bread to start with. And I love ciabatta... Note that a digital scale and a stand mixer are pretty much required for this recipe, which comes from 'Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe's Best Artisan Bakers' by Daniel Leader and Lauren Chattman.

Although it is a lot quicker than making your own sourdough from scratch, ciabatta does require a starter of sorts, called a biga, which should be started 8-16 hours ahead of time - ideally, the night before.

So, the night before you want to bake, take 2.3 oz tepid water (70-78F), 1/2 tsp instant yeast and 3.5 oz white bread flour (I used all purpose, which worked fine) and stir to combine into a dough in a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and leave out at room temperature for 1 hour, then place in the refrigerator for 8-16 hours.

The next day, take the biga, transfer it to a largish bowl, add 15 oz tepid water and stir. Add 2 tsp instant yeast, 17.6 oz white bread flour (or AP) and 0.4 oz salt, and stir to combine. Knead in a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment for 13-15 min on fairly high speed (speed #8 for a KitchenAid), then on high (#10) for another 2-3 min until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and becomes elastic.

Transfer the dough to a straight-sided container (preferably transparent). Mark on the side of the container where the dough will come to when it has tripled in size and leave at room temperature, covered, until it reaches the mark - about 3-4 hours.

Preheat your oven to 475 F with a pan of water in the bottom (to generate steam), and a pizza stone or baking sheet in it, so that it preheats with the oven.

While it is preheating, take a pizza peel or upturned baking sheet and cover with parchment paper and a sprinkling of flour. Flour your counter and set down your dough on it. Cut into 2 pieces. Pick up a piece by the ends, stretching it and setting it on the parchment paper. Repeat with the other piece. 'Dimple' the tops of your loaves with your fingers, cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 30-40 min, until you can see bubbles below the surface.

Remove plastic wrap and slide off peel onto stone in oven. Bake until loaves are golden, 30-35 min. Remove and cool on wire rack for 1 hour before slicing or freezing. Enjoy!

Note 1: The pizza stone and peel are useful but not essential. I have neither, and my bread worked out fine.

Note 2 : Organic stone-ground flour is recommended by the authors of the book. I used standard unbleached flour from the supermarket. It worked OK. All bread recipes benefit from the use of spring water, which does not have any chlorine, which could inhibit the growth of the yeast. I used tap water, which worked OK, but am now using spring water for my breads. The original recipe also called for sea salt, which I used, but normal salt is fine.

Note 3: Weights are used instead of volumes in baking because the same volume of flour (and other powdery ingredients) can weigh different amounts depending on the brand of flour, how it settles, etc. I use the volume for yeast because it is so small, and its accuracy is not paramount.

Note 4: Metric info - 2.3 oz = 65g, 3.5 oz = 100g, 15 oz = 425g, 17.6 oz =500g, 0.4 oz =11g, 475 F = 250 C.