Springtime Time Ciabatta

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Hope you are having a wonderful spring!  Food adventures (#adventuresineating) have been in full effect for me and I hope that the spring time gives you a chance to get out and try some delicious food or better yet, BAKE some delicious food.

It’s the continuation of #breadweek.  After my long post about rye rolls, this post, in comparison, will be short and sweet. Today we are baking Ciabatta.  Ciabatta is a fairly new Italian bread. Being known for pasta wasn’t enough for the Italians, they wanted to make sure they could compete with the French and their famous baguette.  Thus, Ciabatta was born out of the oven.

According to Wikipedia Ciabatta was created in 1982 by a baker in Italy, in response to the notoriety of the French baguette.  Since then Ciabatta has been baked into various different forms with slight variations in dough. You might know ciabatta from delicious eats such as paninis or from the light, airy structure of the bread.  The word ciabatta literally means slipper in Italian.  But why would you put these on your feet and not in your mouth?? #getinmybelly

via GIPHY

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A girl, a Kitchenaid, and a Paul Hollywood recipe

Aside from eating ciabatta, I didn’t know much about it until I watched The Show (The Great British Bake Off is the show of course).  As I began this #technicalchallenge, the word “patience” kept repeating in my head.  Mr. Paul Hollywood’s infamous words of wisdom during the episode (which, baker Kate heeded, and came in first for the technical (spoiler alert)).  I decided that I would be as patient as I could be while I delved into Mr Hollywood’s recipe (from the How to Bake).  

Bread making, in general, can cause anxiety.  You know... that kneading, that proofing, that I-hope-that-is-a-hollow-sound when you are tapping the bottom of the loaf  to check if it is done. Since I was putting ciabatta and baguette on the same plane, I began to get a little nervous for this challenge.  I have only made baguettes once (but recently started to feel the urge to make them again, now that I am more learned). However baguettes were the ultimate finicky bread and an exercise in the value of PATIENCE.  Ciabatta, the Baguette rival, must be the same way, right?  

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via GIPHY

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I was pleasantly surprised when I opened my How to Bake book to the ciabatta recipe and found that it was surprisingly simple.  In fact, the recipe called to ONLY use an electric mixer since the dough is a very wet dough.  The proofing time listed was 1-2 hours (making sure the dough double or even trebled (oh, those Brits!) in size).

The tricky part is after the proofing, to NOT knock the air out from the dough, as many bread recipes will tell you to do.  The air that is created from the yeast is what gives the ciabatta that light, airy texture.

Ok, for those of you that are following along (Thank you!), there is no crazy Pantry Caper during this ciabatta technical bake. Simple ingredients that anyone would have on hand: bread flour, olive oil, salt, yeast.  No eggs, no butter. I would definitely spring for some good olive oil to infuse some delicious taste since you oil a square plastic tub to proof the dough in.  

Square? The shape is specifically requested by Mr. Hollywood in order to help with the shaping.  Well, Paul, I only had a round tub so my round tub will have to make due. I oiled my ROUND tub and felt satisfied.  

I followed the directions as listed by the recipe and my dough doubled within an hour so I decided to cut and shape and not wait another hour.  

(Patience, out the window, btw).  

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Definitely a wet dough!  I gave it almost an extra 10 minutes of “kneading” in the electric mixer (#kitchenaid, if you are asking...see selfie of me and my mixer on my instagram account @dana.does.things), even though the recipe only called for 5-8 minutes.  I decided to add the extra 10 minutes because the dough didn’t look like it was fully “together” and smooth. The kneading time and the round tub were my only diversions from this recipe.

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After the proofing stage, the dough had double in size and tipped out easily from the round tub.  Now, time to shape the dough. I divided dough into four separate pieces, full disclosure, I did not weigh the dough...because, well, I couldn’t pick up the wet dough and weigh it effectively.  

I shaped the dough into four rectangular loaves as best as I could - is this still technically a slipper shape??-  which is why Mr. Hollywood suggests using a square tub, to help with this part. I was trying to not knock out any of that beautiful pockets of air as I was shaping, and stretched and shaped as much as I dared to.  

This is where I will diverge away from the recipe when I make more ciabatta… The recipe calls for another 10 mins for resting.  I think that at minimum a 30 min of resting after the shaping process would be better. This would help the dough rest, obviously, but also build back some of that air that might have been lost during the shaping.

I feel that my loaves would have been a little more risen in the oven had I added that extra time for rest… what’s the word again? Oh right, PATIENCE.

All in all, the ciabatta was delicious.  Pretty open structure, and made a nice little impromptu European lunch the next day.  Can’t complain about too much in life when you have fresh baked bread, cheese (my best friend) and prosciutto.

Ok, this week promises a #breadshowstopper and a Love Letter to Nola- where I ate my face off in 3 days.  Until then.. happy baking, happy eating, happy repeating.

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A Bonus look at my delicious lunch :)  You are WELCOME.

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Addendum

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So, after baking and writing this blog... I rewatched the season 1 Bread episode... and kept my eyes and ears open for more tips about ciabatta.  I think when I bake some more ciabatta next time, I will let the first proof go a little longer (going up to 2 hours, if I dare), not in a proofing drawer or overly warm area because I don't want to over activate the yeast, and still let the dough rest a little longer than 10 minutes after shaping.  I loved my golden color and the chew of my ciabatta, so I think my bake time was right (less than 20 min), but less stretching for the shaping and keeping with the slipper shape may help me.  I'll let you know when . I bake it again.  But for now, it's onto the #showstopper.