Homemade Ciabatta

Whoa! I love bread, good bread! It takes time to make good bread! Most of the recipes I've seen take 2 days to finish the bread and so is this one, which I'm going to share with you.

The recipe is from James Peterson and his book about baking. The recipe for the pizza is also from the same book.

Ok, let's start with the ingredients.

- 375 g wheat flour

- 330 ml lukewarm water

- 1 package of instant yeast which is 7 grams

- 60 ml olive oil

- 3/4 tsp salt

- a bit of butter for the baking tray

For the ciabatta you need to make a wet starter (poolish), so the dough will rise really slow and you will get those holes in the bread.

To make the starter, add 95 grams flour, the yeast and 180ml water in a bowl and whisk till it's a bit thick. Cover this with foil and let it rise for 1 or 2 hours, till it's doubled or trippled the size.

The next step is to add the starter with the rest of the flour, water and the olive oil. Mix this 2 minutes in the Kitchenaid with a dough hook. Cover it with plastic foil and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Add the salt and knead it for 7 minutes on medium speed. Higher the speed if needed, so the dough will come off the hook.

Cover the dough with plastic foil (yes, again) and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature and then overnight in the fridge.

I used a round baking tray of 28cm, you can use a different baking tray if you like. Spread the butter in the tray and add the dough in the tray, you don't have to press the air out of it.

This is the last part of waiting, yes, cover the dough again with plastic foil and let it rise for 2 hours till it's doubled the size.

- Now comes the baking! This is a whole experience itself. Pre-heat the oven to 230C. You need an extra tray with hot water on the bottom of the oven. Place the bread above the tray with hot water and spray the sides of the oven with water, wait 30 seconds and spray it again. Reduce the heat to 220C.

To spray the sides of the oven, you will keep the heat in the oven like the professionals (they don't have to spray, because they have pro ovens).

Bake the bread for 35 minutes till it sounds hole when you knock on it. Let it rest for 5 minutes before moving to a rack.

Finally! It's done. It is definitely worth to try and it's a fun experience to see the different methods of using flour and yeast to make different kind of bread.

I hope you'll like it and have a nice weekend!

ah, I forgot to mention that the bread is rrrrrealy good with good quality olive oil and sea salt!