Ciabatta

The saga continues. I'm pretty sure ciabatta is my arch nemesis. This time while the recipe worked wonderfully and the bread ended up great and I will definitely redo this sooner rather than later...I seem to get in my own way. Does that ever happen to anyone else? I just wanted a home run, like the pretzels (which you should try if you haven't). My edits to the story of this recipe are (as usual) in italics. (Oh! and one more thing, our "good" camera's battery charger is MIA...so these photo's are fine, but I'm missing the other camera...)


CIABATTA!!
Makes 2 loaves. Published March 1, 2009. From Cook's Illustrated.

Two tablespoons of nonfat milk powder can be used in place of the liquid milk; increase the amount of water in the dough to 1 cup. **See my note below. As you make this bread, keep in mind that the dough is wet and very sticky. The key to manipulating it is working quickly and gently; rough handling will result in flat, tough loaves. When possible, use a large rubber spatula or bowl scraper to move the dough. If you have to use your hands, make sure they are well floured. Because the dough is so sticky, it must be prepared in a stand mixer (which will dance around your counter top as it kneeds, just fyi). If you don’t have a baking stone, bake the bread on an overturned and preheated rimmed baking sheet set on the lowest oven rack. The bread will keep for up to 2 days, well wrapped and stored at room temperature. To re-crisp the crust, place the unwrapped bread in a 450-degree oven for 6 to 8 minutes. The bread will keep frozen for several months wrapped in foil and placed in a large zipper-lock bag. Thaw the bread at room temperature and re-crisp using the instructions above.

Ingredients

Biga
1	cup unbleached all-purpose flour (5 ounces)
1/8	teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1/2	cup water (4 ounces), at room temperature
Dough
2	cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
1/2	teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2	teaspoons table salt
3/4	cup water (6 ounces), at room temperature
1/4	cup milk (2 ounces), at room temperature (see note)

Instructions

1. FOR THE BIGA: Combine flour, yeast, and water in medium bowl and stir with wooden spoon until uniform mass forms, about 1 minute. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature (about 70 degrees) overnight (at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours).
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. 
   
   
   
   FOR THE DOUGH: Place biga and dough ingredients in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on lowest speed until roughly combined and shaggy dough forms, about 1 minute; scrape down sides of bowl as necessary. Continue mixing on medium-low speed until dough becomes uniform mass that collects on paddle and pulls away from sides of bowl, 4 to 6 minutes. Change to dough hook and knead bread on medium speed until smooth and shiny (dough will be very sticky), about 10 minutes. Transfer dough to large bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   **Okay, so at this point a few things happened. First, I put too much water in it, mistaking the increasing to 1 cup if using powdered milk, to add an extra cup of water. This was very wrong. Eric looked at the dough and what it was supposed to be looking like and as gently as possible started asking me what steps I had taken. He then realized my mistake...I start to kind of freak out and am ready to literally flush it all down the toilet. This is the 3rd time I've attempted ciabatta...and I just get so hopeful that it will work. So, in my frustration, I get a little tearful. This is where I want to make that superhero announcement noise dudududooooo and yet again I am rescued from myself. I think we've mentioned that Eric was a pastry chef at a chi-chi restaurant in Knoxville for a spell? He knows a bit about baking and therefore was able to tell me how to remedy the situation. We doubled the recipe, adding all the ingredients of another starter (without the 24 hour wait), and then proceeded as normal simply making 4 loaves rather than 2.
   
3. Spray rubber spatula or bowl scraper with nonstick cooking spray; fold partially risen dough over itself by gently lifting and folding edge of dough toward middle. Turn bowl 90 degrees; fold again. Turn bowl and fold dough six more times (total of eight turns). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes. Repeat folding, replace plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes longer. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, place baking stone on rack, and heat oven to 450 degrees at least 30 minutes before baking.
   
   **This is another thing that threw me for a loop... apparently there was a plastic container sitting on top of our baking stone with water in it that was "preheated" along with the oven for 30 minutes. Our smoke alarms were going off, which in itself is NOT an unusual occurrence at our house, the sensitivity of the smoke alarms, AND the fact that it's pretty much guaranteed that they will go off if we cook anything above 400, so we simply close doors and fan the smoke away--I always still check to see if there is in fact a fire...as onetime there were actual flames...) Yet, here comes my sweet husband yet again, as I am just ready to quit and gets the melty plastic off of the stone...all the same though, I am pretty flustered.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Cut two 12- by 6-inch pieces of parchment paper and liberally dust with flour. Transfer dough to liberally floured counter, being careful not to deflate completely. Turn 1 piece of dough so cut side is facing up and dust with flour. With well-floured hands, press dough into rough 12- by 6-inch shape. Fold shorter sides of dough toward center, overlapping them like business letter to form 7- by 4-inch loaf. Repeat with second dough piece. Gently transfer each loaf seam-side down to parchment sheets, dust with flour, and cover with plastic wrap. Let loaves sit at room temperature for 30 minutes (surfaces of loaves will develop small bubbles).
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Slide parchment with loaves onto inverted, rimmed baking sheet or pizza peel. Using floured fingertips, evenly poke entire surface of each loaf to form 10- by 6-inch rectangle; spray loaves lightly with water. Carefully slide parchment with loaves onto baking stone using jerking motion. Bake, spraying loaves with water twice more during first 5 minutes of baking time, until crust is deep golden brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into centers of loaves registers 210 degrees, 22 to 27 minutes. Transfer to wire rack, discard parchment, and cool loaves to room temperature, about 1 hour, before slicing and serving. **For the record, we don't own a spray bottle, so I just dumped water on them right before we put them in the oven. Literally, probably a very healthy 1/8 cup for each loaf. Also, we made 4, but one of them slid a little too far off the pizza peel and ran into the back of the oven, so it looked a little ghetto, so we put it out of it's misery and promptly ate it.

and then today I made my favorite sandwich (minus avocado)....mmmmmmmmmm......

I will make this again. It is a wonderfully flavored bread and rises well. This recipe wasn't as sticky as the others I've tried and was in all reality (if you take my "skill" out of the equation) rather easy. I hope you try it!

ps. it is also extremely budget friendly