Friday, August 6, 2010

8/3/2010 - Ciabatta


Yes, I baked bread two days in a row.  It was a little crazy, and I was probably not a very good mommy, but I did it and we all survived.  I chose to make the poolish version of ciabatta instead of the biga version.  I prepared the poolish the evening before, left it on the counter for a couple of hours, and then refrigerated it overnight.  The next day I mixed the dough.  Ciabatta is not kneaded on the counter, but is gently stretched, folded, and rested twice before the final shaping.  As I stretched and folded the first time, it was apparent to me that my dough was not nearly wet enough when compared to the pictures.  I put the dough back in the bowl and attempted to add some water, but I must not have added enough because it felt exactly the same when I tried again.  At that point M had awoken from her nap and I had to leave it.  After the partial rise, I shaped my too-stiff loaves as best I could and placed them in a makeshift couche I shaped from a dish towel.  They proofed, and I baked them on the stone.  Two of the loaves were lovely, and the third is conspicuously missing from my picture.

I was pretty disappointed with this bread.  The flavor was good, but the crumb basically looked like that of sandwich bread.  It was completely lacking in the large holes I was hoping to achieve by very gentle handling.  I suspect the problem was the consistency of my dough.  This is one formula that I will definitely need to revisit. 

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