What’d You Do Last Weekend?
Want to try a gluten-free dessert that tastes anything but? How about hanging your lip on a Nanaimo bar? The recipe's from our neighbors up north, but the gluten-free graham crackers are a creation of Celiac Teen's Lauren. Unbelievable.
Poolish Ciabatta
I cleaned off my bread table this morning for a reunion with some flour, yeast and water. It's hard for me to believe I've been schooled in bread - albeit informally and for only a few months - because my brain is full of cobwebs about some of the processes. This is one of those things you have to do often to keep your technique good.
Our kitchen is teeny tiny, but I still managed a decent poolish and a long fermentation period. I moved the operation downstairs into the basement near the washer and dryer, mostly to be out of the way, but also to give myself a quiet place to work. The dryer turned out to be pretty helpful when it came to proofing the loaves - the house is cool today, and it would have taken forever to rise upstairs.
Behold, a nice little pillow of ciabatta - the result of a few hours of effort and about $1 of ingredients.
Poolish Ciabatta
This recipe comes from Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice.
Poolish
2 1/2 c unbleached bread flour
1 1/2 c water, at room temperature
1/4 tsp instant yeast
- Stir together the flour, water and yeast in a mixing bowl until all of the flour is hydrated.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 3 - 4 hours, or until the sponge becomes bubbly and foamy.
This will keep up to 3 days in the fridge.
Ciabatta
3 1/4 c Poolish
3 c unbleached bread flour
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
6 T to 3/4 c water, lukewarm
Semolina or cornmeal for dusting
- If you refrigerated the poolish, remove it from the fridge at least one hour before you start this.
- Stir together the flour, salt, and yeast in a mixing bowl.
- Add the poolish and 6 T of the water.
- With the paddle attachment on the mixer, mix until the ingredients form a sticky ball. If there is loose flour, add a little water and continue to mix.
- Mix for 5 - 7 minutes on medium speed until you get a smooth, sticky dough. Switch to the dough hook for the final 2 minutes. You may need to add flour to firm up the dough enough to clear the sides of the bowl, but it should be soft and sticky.
- Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the sticky dough to a bed of flour. Use the stretch and fold method to loosely shape the dough. Mist the top of the dough again with oil, dust with flour, and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
- Rest for 30 minutes.
- Stretch and fold again and mist with oil, dust with flour and cover. Rest for 1 1/2 to 2 hours to allow fermentation. It should swell but will not double in size.
- Shape the ciabatta and rest in a couche for 45 - 60 minutes (oiled and floured) at room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
- Put the bread in the oven and turn it according to usual practices, spraying with water for the first 3 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 450 degrees after the first 3 minutes and bake for 10 minutes. Rotate and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 205.
- Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and cool for at least 45 minutes before slicing.
