Ciabatta Bread

I’ve tried and failed to make a decent ciabatta bread, until now!!!  Very exciting!  I’ve adapted this from lifehack.org.  He calls it “one minute ciabatta”.  This may be stretching the truth a little bit, as the dough has to rise/rest for 8-12 hours.  I mixed it and covered it  in a few minutes, just before “retiring” last night.  I was so excited when I woke up and saw that the dough was still sticky and had tripled in size, just as it was supposed to!  That hardly ever happens to me!  Another option would be to mix it up and let it rest all day.  You’d have warm, fresh bread for dinner!

Again, I used my Kitchenaid mixer to mix this up.  Easy and fast!  This is not the way a lady wants to be described, but I’m not talking about a lady.  I’m talking about the hard working and versatile equipment in my little kitchen!  I have the professional model, which is really not at all like me.  I pretend to be a professional, but am usually to cheap and practical to buy the biggest and best.  :-)  I blame that on my very practical Wisconsin roots.  Speaking of practical, I baked this in my cast iron pan.  More on this, too.  Let’s do it!

Ingredients:

2 cups of hot tap water (not microwaved, just from the tap).

1/4 tsp. yeast (keep it fresh).  It should bubble a little when added to warm water.

3 1/2 c. bread flour (can use all purpose).

1/2 tsp. salt.

Process:

• ADD.  This sounds like a math problem, but it isn’t!  Add hot tap water and yeast to the warm mixing bowl.  You can mix this up with a whisk or fork.  Then, let it sit for a few minutes.  Add the flour.  Add the salt.  Add some dried herbs, if you want to be really fancy.
• MIX.  I use the dough hook on the mixer for this.  Just mix until all ingredients are incorporated.  The “ball” of dough is not really a ball here.  It’s pretty sticky and wet, much more than a french or italian dough.  It looks pretty small, but don’t get discouraged.
• RISE/REST.  Leave the dough in the mixer bowl.  (Why dirty another big bowl?) Cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel.  Place in a warm and draft free place for 8-12 hours.  (I put it in the oven, mostly so Belle doesn’t decide to have a midnight snack!)
• BAKE:  As noted below, heat up one pan of water.  (I use my 2 qt. sauce pan for this.)  Place the cast iron pan (or baking sheet) in the oven to preheat at 450 degrees.  You don’t need to put flour, corn meal, or parchment paper on the cast iron.  GENIOUS!!!!  When the oven is hot, carefully pour the dough in to the hot cast iron pan.  Gentle, gentle, gentle.  The air bubbles that are in the dough make this work.  I carefully scraped the side of the bowl as the dough was coming out of the bowl.  Bake until brown (20-30 minutes).
• COOL.  Just be cool.  Carefully, place the finished loaf on a cooling rack.  Let it cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing, so the bread does not collapse.  
• Slice and enjoy!  This is the best part!  So delicious! Mine was a little bit mis-shapen, but looks like “the real deal”, when sliced.  

Tips:  

Warm up the mixing bowl before adding the water and yeast.  Cold kills yeast.

I leave the yeast and water in the warmed up bowl for a few minutes before adding the flour.  Then, I pour all of the flour on top of the water and yeast.  I put the salt on top of the flour.  Remember, salt kills yeast, too.

When preheating the oven, boil a pan of water (about an inch in the bottom of the pan), put the cast iron pan in the oven, or heat it up on the stove.  Note:  the pan with boiling water is not the same pan that you will be baking in.  Oddly, a pan of hot water in the oven, helps to crisp up the crust.  I place this on the rack below the rack that the bread is on.  Having water in a spray bottle and spraying the oven walls just after placing the dough in the hot oven helps, too.  

You can add dried herbs or some nice parm. cheese.  Again, not the stuff in the green can.  Adding a little bit (1 tbsp.) of melted butter will help to brown the loaf.  

Some recipes call for a baking stone or pizza slider thingy (not it’s technical name).  Again, I have a really tiny kitchen in a house that was built in the 1930’s or 40’s, so less is better.  I don’t need either one of those things, since I have the cast iron pan!

Easy clean up!  I used just one measuring cup, one measuring spoon, my Kitchenaid mixing bowl, and the dough hook.  You could live really large with one more bowl.  After mixing the dough, pour half of it in another bowl.  You could make two smaller loaves.  You could also top the first “layer” from one bowl with cheese, add the other half of the dough, and top that with cheese!  The possibilities are endless!

My friend, Tadd, would toast this bread.  I’ll probably take a couple of slices, lightly butter both sides, and “grill” in a hot cast iron pan!