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Ciabatta (yawn!)

Nifcon@aol.com
Thu, 19 Sep 2002 18:17:28 EDT
v102.n044.1
CIABATTA

This is the result of several months of tinkering with a recipe I'd 
developed for soft crust bread.

The relatively large amount of yeast in the starter is not a misprint. I've 
got better results from a fast preferment than the usual slow, minimal 
yeast approach. This is not, nor is it intended to be a recipe that is 
"authentic" or "definitve" - it just makes superb bread.

You will recognise in this recipe influences and techniques from several 
sources as well as those self taught and I make no claim to originality.

EQUIPMENT.

You will need :-

A heavy duty mixer that can run at medium (3 on a Kenwood) for at least 5 
minutes and probably 8 - 10.

All the paraphenalia of hearth baking - bakestones, hot oven, water pan, 
boiling water.

Some means - you will have your favourite - of inverting, moving and 
depositing very wobbly loaves.

Silicon paper or cloth, clingfilm or towels

A bench scraper,

A FULL flour sifter.


STARTER

500 gm High-protein (The one I use is 13.2%) white flour
550 gm Warm water
10 gm Instant yeast or equivalent in whatever form of yeast you have available

Mix the flour yeast and water thoroughly, In your mixer's bowl is the best 
place (the mixture is very wet and mixes perfectly easily with a hand 
whisk) cover and leave in a warm place for at least 3 hours by which time 
the mixture will have risen and collapsed and be very bubbly and a little 
sour. Either use the starter straight away or refrigerate overnight, in 
which case, take it out of the fridge a couple of hours before using it.

DOUGH

The starter
500 gm flour (same flour as the starter)
5 gm instant yeast
20 gm salt
30 gm dried skimmed milk powder
200 gm very warm water
100 gm olive oil, doesn't have to be single-estate Tuscan but not rubbish 
either

Add the flour, yeast, salt, milk powder, oil and water to the starter, fit 
the dough hook to the mixer and mix on low speed until combined roughly 
then turn the mixer up to medium (3 on a Kenwood) and mix for 5 minutes. 
The dough will appear very wet at first but, gradually, the dough will wrap 
itself around the hook and JUST clear the bottom of the bowl. This may take 
up to 10 minutes and you may need to add a little, 10 - 20 gm, extra flour. 
Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour, dip a scraper in flour and scrape 
the soft, tacky not sticky, very elastic dough out onto a well-floured 
counter, shape into a rough square and leave for 10 minutes to relax. Take 
1 side of the dough in your hands and stretch the square into a rectangle, 
repeat with the opposite side, so that the dough is about 3 times as long 
as wide then fold the dough in 3 like a letter, reshape into a rough 
square, sprinkle with flour, cover with towels or film and leave until 
doubled (you can, if counter space is a problem ferment the dough in an 
oiled bowl).

Uncover the  dough and sprinkle with flour then cut the dough into 4 strips 
as if making baguettes. Then fold each piece in 3 along it's length making 
4 fat logs and stretch each log out by about 1/3 to make rectangular, quite 
fat loaves. Place them to prove, seam side up on a well floured surface 
from which you can invert them later. (Everybody has their own method for 
inverting and moving doughs.). Leave to prove for about 1 hour until almost 
doubled and VERY wobbly.

Your oven should have been heating on full blast for 45 minutes with the 
stones in place. Bring about 1/2 litre (more than usually recommended but 
for my oven, it works.) water to the boil. Invert as many of the loaves as 
you want to bake (I bake 2 at a time the second batch retarded for 1/2 hour 
in the fridge.) onto a peel, superpeel or any other device that works for 
you and slide them straight onto the hot stones working as quickly as you 
can. When all the loaves are in, dump the boiling water into the pan on the 
oven floor and close the door quickly. Turn the heat down to 230 C (fan 
oven) and leave for 15 minutes. Open the door, move the loaves around if 
necessary (uneven baking is a problem in most ovens) and leave for another 
10 minutes. The loaves should be well browned with dark patches and a 
veiling of flour and the internal teperature should be at least 93 C. If 
not bake another 5 minutes and test again. Repeat until done.

NOTES

If you can't manage inversion of the finished loaves then a single, shallow
slash lengthways down each loaf is unorthodox but produces a lighter bread.

The water and  oil numbers are correct - this is a high-hydration dough but
it is perfectly manageable.

Like several other list members I've come to the conclusion that spritzing
during baking is pointless.


John Wright
Yorkshire, England

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger"