Work had been keeping me rather busy with the new seasonal dessert changes & the upcoming mother's specials, so I have not have time to make anything at home. Since I will have friends over tonight for dinner, I figured we will do Italian and I will make Ciabatta. Ciabatta also called "slipper bread" because of its oddly shape sort of resemble a pair of old slipper! It has a heavily floured exterior, overly large holes & crispy crust, just a perfect bread to soak up pasta sauce or a stew!
If you have never make bread before, Ciabatta is probably a good starting point since it require almost no kneading so there is no risk of over kneading the dough & over develop gluten (VERY chewy bread).
Ciabatta
480 g Bread Flour (All purpose will do)
7 g Instant Yeast
600 g Luke Warm Water
240 g Bread Flour (or AP)
22 g Salt
- Combine 1st amount of flour & yeast, mix well then add water.
- Using your hand (yes, hands!) to mix, just until all the flour is mixed in. It will appear soupy, which is correct. This is the sponge for the bread. Cover & let sit for at least 1 hr or until double in size.
- Mix 2nd part of flour w/ salt, and combine w/ the sponge that we had made. Using your hand (yes, hands!), squeeze the mixture until there is no more flour visible. The dough is VERY sticky.
- Transfer the dough into a sprayed bowl, spray the dough (just in case it proofed onto the plastic), and cover. Let stand in room temp until double, about 30 min.
- Remove the plastic cover, lightly fold the dough into itself in 3rd. Cover & let stand for another 30 min.
- Heavily flour your work counter to prevent sticking, and lightly transfer your dough onto the counter. Heavily flour to cover the dough.
- Using a bench scraper or knife, cute the dough into 4 portions.
- Lightly folding the dough's ends so it became a rectangular shape. Place it on a baking sheet lined w/ parchment or Silicone mat.
- Cover the dough & let rest for 20 min.
- Bake in preheated 450 F oven for about 12 min, until the bottom is golden brown.
- Let cool completely before enjoy!
