From: Socko47@aol.com
My question: is there a way to develop holes?
Joe
Joe, you want a very loose dough that plops down on your baking sheet and
doesn't rise much. You'll see in the following recipe you never knead in the
tradition way -- on the board -- at all! If you want the classic 'Italian
bread" or baguette shape, you need the special pans to shape this loose type
of dough. Here's a Ciabatta recipe from Bon Appetit 1/99, which gets rave
reviews when put out instead of chips with dip...
CIABATTA
Makes 2 loaves
BIGA (starter or sponge)
1 cup plus 1 Tbls. room-temperature water
1 package dry yeast (or approx 1 Tblsp bulk dry yeast)
3 1/3 cups bread flour (or add 1 tsp. vital wheat gluten to each cup of white
flour)
DOUGH
Biga from above
3/4 cup plus 2 Tblsp room -temperature water
Pinch of dry yeast
1/2 cup plus 3 Tblsp semolina flour (the kind you use to make pasta)
2 1/2 tsp. salt
For biga: Place water in a large bowl, sprinkle yeast over and let stand
until yeast dissolves, about 10 minutes. Add 1 cup flour, whisk or stir
until well-blended. Add another cup of flour, blend well. Add remaining 1
1/3 cups flour and incorporate (dough will be firm). (Preceding can also be
accomplished in food processor, be sure to keep sides scraped down between
additions.) Gather dough into a ball, place in large bowl if you used your
processer to mix it; cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator
overnight. The biga will soften, resembling thick oatmeal in texture.
For dough:
Pull biga into walnut-size pieces; place in a clean, large bowl. Add water,
yeast and semolina flour. Using one hand, squeeze ingredients together for 2
minutes. Work the dough 4 minutes by scooping sections from sides of bowl
and pressing into the center, blending into a very soft, shaggy mass. Using
spatula, scrape dough from sides of bowl into center. Let dough rest in
bowl, uncovered, 10 minutes.
Sprinkle salt over the dough. Using one hand, knead dough by rotating bowl
1/4 turn at a time, scooping dough from sides and folding down into center
until dough starts to come away from sides of bowl, about 5 minutes. Scrape
dough from hand and sides of bowl. Cover with towel and let dough rest in
bowl 20minutes.
Rotating bowl 1/4 turn at a time, fold dough over onto itself 6 times; turn
dough over in bowl. Cover with towel and dlet dough rest in bowl 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425*. Sprinkle work surface with additional semolina. Turn
dough out onto semolina. Using pastry scraper or large knife, cut dough in
half; keep halves separated (easier said than done!). Let stand, uncovered,
20 minutes.
Sprinkle two large baking sheets (cookie sheets are fine) with additional
semolina (I usually spray 'em first just for safety). Transfer each dough
half, semolina side up, to one sheet. Stretch each dough half to 15 x 4"
rectangle. press fingertips into dough in several places to dimple the
surface (characteristic of this bread). Bake until golden brown, about 25
minutes. Cool.
You can top this before baking with anything from Kosher salt to caramelized
onions -- fresh herbs are great -- and have a fine offering for a luncheon or
for an evening snack! (You can get semolina in most "organic" food stores in
bulk, or Williams-Sonoma by the bag. If it's too discouraging to find that
particular thing, you could try substituting corn meal; the flavor would be a
little different, but the crunchiness should come out about the same.)
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For: Caroline Anderson <cja2417@yahoo.com>
My question is, can you always replace the vegetable oil or margarine in
recipes and use Olive oil instead? j
The olive oil is fine from a chemistry perspective, but it can be MUCH more
strongly flavored than vegetable oil. I'd try a half-and-half approach on a
small batch of bread first. Use the cheapest, least intense, least "virgin"
olive oil you can find ...the wonderful, fruity flavor that enhances your
salad can gag you in bread if too intense.
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for Phyllis Tesch:
First question: it calls for 1 package dry yeast. I use instant yeast
(Fleischmann's) and buy it in bulk. How much should I use?
About a tablespoon (a little short is OK if you like to be thrifty with your
yeast investment)
Second question: Can I mix the sponge and let it work in the stainless
steel KitchenAid mixing bowl? I haven't done that yet, not being sure if
the bowl will 'harm' the sponge in some way. But my largest glass bowl is
barely big enough to contain it.
Anything non-reactive (not aluminum, basically) should be OK. An advantage
of glass or crockery bowls is that they are thicker and keep a more steady
temperature as the sponge rises. You could toss a large towel over your bowl
or mixer and give it the same kind of insulation, or put a small heating pad
under a dish towel (just to keep the heating pad clean) and use that to keep
your steel bowl toasty. In summer you probably don't need to worry about
keeping some warmth nearby.