Saturday, May 16, 2009

In the House of the Rising ... Dough

**Updated with Pictures**

I was reading through a couple of articles on The Fresh Loaf a couple of days ago and the thought occurred to me to see how difficult ciabatta bread might be to make. I found a recipe that looked quite straightforward and thought I'd try my hand at it!

My breads (I've made white, honey wheat, and rye) tend to turn out with a crumb that's too dense for my tastes. I'm hoping that the ciabatta bread will be a completely different story.

I started out this morning about 10 AM. So far, it's been incredibly easy: you mostly just let the dough sit and do its thing. :)

As I type, four little ciabatta loaves are on their final rise. I'll slide them into the oven in about 15 minutes and ... time will tell!!


I'll add pictures in a little while, when my experiment is complete. And I'll let you know the results.

The results, for my first try, were quite good! I was really happy with the way the bread turned out. The "holes" in the loaves could have been bigger, but the consistency was pretty good and the crust was classic! Yum! The loaves were little-ish, but one of them is already gone (within five hours of completion). Two others are stashed in the freezer for a little later on. The whole thing was really so easy and so very rewarding, I'll definitely be doing it again!

Have you ever made ciabatta bread? Bread of any kind?

6 comments:

Beth said...

This looks so yummy! Where did you get your recipe?

Monnie said...

Here is the link to the recipe. It's from The Fresh Loaf website.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/9105/ciabatta-italian-slipper-bread

Beth said...

Thanks man! I'm going to try making it sometime soon. If I can figure out where to get the liquid preferment.

Monnie said...

Oh... You don't have to "get" the liquid preferment! You make it. And it's super easy. Just water, flour, and yeast... Mix 'em up and let them sit for an hour. That's your preferment.

Good luck with it! Let me know if your batch turns out! :)

Beth said...

Cool, thanks. Do you know how much of each? I'll try and post it on my blog when I make it.

Beth said...

O.k. sorry I see it now....it's getting late I seem to be to tired to read a recipe!