Ciabatta #2
Submitted by sangita
Authentic Italian ciabatta with fresh yeast, bread flour, and extra-virgin olive oil. A wet, sticky dough rises for hours to produce big holes and a soft, chewy, floury crust.
YIELD
2 loavesPREP
6 hrsCOOK
35 minREADY
6 hrsGood ciabatta is all about patience and a very wet dough. This recipe uses fresh yeast and a long, slow rise to develop the big, irregular holes and chewy, floury crust that make this Italian bread so distinctive.
The dough starts as a sticky batter that you beat by hand for five minutes, then leave to rise for four full hours until it balloons up and collapses on itself. That long ferment builds the complex flavor that shortcuts can never replicate.
After the second rise, you tip the dough onto floured baking sheets without shaping or punching down. That’s what gives ciabatta its signature rough, free-form look and open crumb. The name means “slipper” in Italian, and these loaves should look exactly like that: rustic, flat, and beautifully imperfect.
Chef Tips
- Use fresh yeast for the best results. This recipe was tested extensively and works best with cake yeast rather than active dry.
- Resist the urge to add more flour. The dough should be wet and sticky. That moisture creates the steam that forms the big holes.
- Handle the risen dough as gently as possible when dividing. Every press deflates the gas bubbles you’ve spent hours building.
- Best eaten the same day, gently warmed. Freezes well for up to a week but no longer.
Ingredients
Directions
Put 3¼ cups of the flour into a large bowl.
Make a well in the center of the flour.
Crumble the fresh yeast into a small bowl. Stir in ½ cup of the water until smooth. Pour the yeast mixture into the well in the flour.
Then add the remaining water to the well and mix. Mix the flour from the bowl into the yeast mixture in the well with your hand or a wooden spoon to make a very sticky batterlike dough.
Using your hand, beat the mixture for 5 minutes until very elastic.
Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel and let rise at room temperature, away from drafts, for 4 hours until it rises and collapses.
The dough will rise up enormously, so check that it does not stick to the dish towel.
Punch down the dough.
Add the oil and salt to the dough and mix briefly with your hand.
Then gradually work the rest of the flour in the bowl into the dough with your hand to make a soft, quite sticky dough.
When all the dough is smooth and the flour has been thoroughly combined, cover the bowl with a damp dish towel and let rise at room temperature, away from drafts, until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Using a very sharp knife, divide the dough in half, disturbing the dough as little as possible.
Do not punch it down or try to knead or shape the dough at all.
Tip a portion of the dough onto each of 2 prepared baking sheets, (heavily floured), nudging it with a spatula, to form 2 rough-looking rectangular loaves, about 1 inch thick.
Sprinkle the loaves with flour and let rise, uncovered at room. temperature, away from drafts, until doubled in size, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
During the last 15 min. of rising, heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Bake the loaves for about 35 minutes, or until they are browned and sound hollow when tapped underneath.
Transfer the loaves to wire racks until lukewarm, and then serve.
Or, eat within 24 hours, gently warmed.
Freeze for up to one week only.
This new Italian loaf, all the rage in London, comes from the area around Lake Como in the north, and it is supposed to resemble a slipper.
In any case, it is free-form- simply poured out of the bowl in which it has risen onto the baking sheet in a rough and ready rectangular loaf.
It has large holes, and a soft, but chewy, floury crust.
I find that many commercial loaves taste of stale olive oil or lack the pungency of good extra-virgin oil.
Finding a good recipe for this bread was difficult, and I made abut 30 before I was happy with the results.
As with the baguettes, it is not easy to achieve a perfect result the first time, even though the final loaf should taste very good.
I have not had good results whth easy-blend yeast or dried yeast granules, so I have only included instructions for using fresh yeast.
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