Of course, my friends and family are referring to the fact that there was a snowstorm, school was canceled for a week, and thus, I have not been working much. Aside from three short hours on Friday, today marks the eighth day in a row that I didn't go to work. At first, it was a little surreal. I wasn't sure what to do with all that time, especially living alone. By now, I've almost settled into these work-less days, and it will probably feel just as surreal going back to work.
In any case, I quickly realized that I needed to find things to do to keep myself occupied, and one solution was to teach myself a new skill. Of course, I knew I was probably going to pull this skill from the world of food.
I'll be the first one to admit that I'm not much of a baker. Sure, I'll whip up a batch of cookies or scones here and there, or some days are just screaming for me to bake a cake, but it's not a realm I feel fully comfortable in. But I do love baking bread. My experience with bread is somewhat lacking, however. I'm fine as long as we're talking basic white breads--pizza dough, rolls, tortillas, foccacia, you name it, I'm there. But what about something that requires a little more skill, a little more effort, a little more patience? That was uncharted territory. So I dove in.
After consulting a wonderfully beautiful and informative cookbook, called simply, Ultimate Bread (by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno), I decided on ciabatta, that lovely bread from Italy named for a slipper and full of air holes. The reason this bread would be new for me is that it uses a starter, which essentially means that part of the dough is mixed, left to rest for 12 hours or up to several days, and then used to make the rest of the dough.
Here I've documented the process and included the basic recipe if anyone else needs something to do on a snowy day(s).
Day One--Make the starter
You'll need:
1/2 tsp dry yeast
2/3 c water
3 T milk
1/4 tsp sugar
1 c flour (the book calls for unbleached, but I didn't have it, so just used regular)
Step One: Dissolve yeast in water and milk for 5 minutes, then add sugar and stir to dissolve.
Step Two: Mix in the flour to form a loose batter. It will look like this:
Cover bowl with a dish towel and let rise overnight (or at least 12 hours).
Day Two--Make the dough
You'll need:
1/2 tsp dry yeast
1 c water
1/2 T olive oil
2 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
Step One: Let yeast dissolve in water for 5 minutes. Add this and the olive oil to the starter and mix well. It will look like this:
Step Two: Mix the flour and salt in to the mixture. You will be forming a wet, sticky dough. Beat with a wooden spoon for about 5 minutes--dough will become springy, but you will not be able to knead it! It will look like this:
Step Three: Cover dough with a dish towel and let rise for three hours, until tripled in size. DO NOT PUNCH DOWN DOUGH. It will look like this:
Step Four: Flour two baking sheets.
Step Five: Handling the dough very carefully (and with floured hands), scoop half the dough out of the bowl and onto one of the baking sheets. Note: The recipe in the book instructs the baker to use a dough scraper to do this. I did not have one, so I used a metal spatula. I would not recommend this. I think a better option would be to leave the dough intact and simply make one larger loaf instead of two small loaves.
Step Six: Use well-floured hands to shape loaf into a rough rectangle. Flour hands again. Neaten and plump the loaf by running your fingers down each side and gently tucking under edges of the dough.
Step Seven: If making two loaves, repeat step six. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Leave the loaves, uncovered, to proof for 20 minutes.
Step Eight: Bake bread in the preheated oven for 30 minutes (longer if making one large loaf), until risen, golden, and hollow sounding when tapped underneath. Cool on wire rack. My loaves:
A slice:
Served with a simple olive tapenade:
I was pleased with how my ciabatta turned out on my first try. However, I few things I would do differently:
(1) Make one loaf. I think my air bubbles suffered a little because I handled the dough too much.
(2) Bake bread for slightly longer in hopes of achieving a darker crust.
(3) Trying the steam method while baking. According to my bread book, the introduction of steam during baking helps create a crisper crust. There are a few methods, but I will probably try the method of placing a try of ice cubes on the bottom rack of my oven (under the bread), and then removing it when all the ice has melted.
Enjoy!
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