Hi everyone! What an awesome site with so many great contributions. I can't wait to learn more baking secrets!
I'm very new to baking. Only a few loaves thus far. Yesterday I attempted ciabatta using Cook's Illustrated's recipe; adding two tablespoons of olive oil and putting the biga in the fridge after eight hours to ferment for another twelve. The crumb was soft and springy with a nice chew and classic ciabatta flavor.
So, how'd I do?
Wow! Beautiful bread!
I like it that you don't have a pile of flour covering the crust too. Well done and welcome
Thank you both so very much! Most of the credit goes to my KA. I have no idea how people can make ciabatta without a stand mixer. I saw a blogger that had made some by hand, and I was in awe. They were perfect.
Your bread looks delicious. You got me in the mood to make some ciabatta so I put together a poolish last night and am finishing my second load in the oven right now. I am using the formula from Baking Artisan Bread by Ciril Hitz. It surprisingly doesn't call for oil so I just left it out this time.
Thanks! Post some pictures of your ciabatta when you can. It's interesting how different ciabatta, and bread in general, can turn out with just a subtle difference between recipes.
It has been a long time since I made ciabatta. One thing I noticed is that the last time I made a poolish (for a baguette) it was very nutty smelling/tasting. This time it was not as nutty. I realized that the last time I used a flour that was malted and this time it was KAF AP. For the ciabatta I think the nuttiness might have been too much, but for the baguette it was great. I will have to keep that in mind when thinking about the flavor profile I am looking for.
So I was happy with the end result. The loaves are very light and airy. I weighed one of the bigger ones (the one on the bottom left of the pic) and it was about 280g. The flavor is great.
My only issue is a little bit of burning on the bottom due to the extra flour. But it was only on one or two of them and wasn't really bad, just something to think about next time.
The extra mixing time was well worth it as it made this much easier to handle. This is 78% hydration FWIW.
Actually I was saying that the KAF AP was not as nutty as the malted flour. But you are right that you bring out the flavor of the flour with a long pre-ferment.
I was happy with the crumb. It had that nice shine to it and some of the holes were being held together by the thinnest sheet of gluten.