By coincidence, my sister just gave me a recipe for ciabatta, a
slipper-shaped bread from Lake Como, which she recommended highly. It's
from an Italian cookbook, the name of which I didn't copy down. I made it
last week, and it was very good, but it takes a long time to make!:
Ciabatta
1 tsp yeast
5 Tblsp warm milk
1 c plus 3 tblsp water, room temperature
1 Tblsp olive oil
2 cups Biga starter (see below), made 12 hours before
3 3/4 c. white flour
1 Tblsp salt
cornmeal
Stir yeast into milk; let stand until creamy, about ten min. Add water, oil
and biga, mix until blended. Mix flour and salt, add to the bowl, mix for 2
or 3 min. Knead. Let rise until doubled. Cut dough into 4 pieces. Roll
each piece into a cylinder, then shape into a rectangle, about 10x4 inches.
Place on floured baking sheets. Dimple with knuckles so they won't rise too
much -- dough will look heavily pockmarked. Cover with dampened towels, let
rise 1 1/2 - 2 hours, till puffy but not doubled -- the loaves will look
flat, but will rise in the oven. Heat oven to 425 F, sprinkle loaves with
cornmeal. Bake 20-25 min., spraying 3 times with water in the first 10
minutes. Cool on racks.
Biga starter for Ciabatta - makes about 2 1/3 cups
1/4 tsp yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup plus 1 Tblsp and 1 tsp water
2 1/2 cups flour
Stir yeast into warm water, let stand 10 min. Stir in remaining water and
flour. Mix for 3 or 4 minutes. Let rise at cool room temp 6-24 hours --
the starter will triple in volume and be wet and sticky. Refrigerate until
ready to use. It freezes well, needs 3 hours at room temperature to
re-activate. Can be refrigerated for about a week.