Ciabatta bread - this one worked out really well, fast and easy

You really need a Kitchen aid or a food processor for this one though.

2 cups hot water
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp traditional yeast

Mix and set aside for 10 minutes

4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt

To the flour salt add the yeast liquid after it's well started and mix with the batter paddle just till everything is wet and leave it to rest for 10 minutes. It will be like a thick pancake batter at this stage. After the rest beat it vigorously still with the paddle till it starts to climb the paddle. Switch to the dough hook and continue until the dough forms a ball and all gathers on the hook, then 5 minutes longer. You will be beating it for 15 - 25 minutes and in the second half you need to be there to supervise your Kitchen Aid or it might walk off the counter gradually. It's a really elastic dough once it is worked up.

Transfer into a oiled bowl and turn the ball over so it has oil on top as well and place in a warmed oven to rise until at least tripled. Then turn out onto a generously floured countertop and push about with an oiled spatula till you have a square or rectangle. Try and make the turn out and shaping not loose all the air bubbles, this is not a dough you punch down and knead again.

Cut the dough into squares for buns or long strips for loaves. I made 4 loaves with this. Separate the sections by gently lift/sliding them and the flour under them with an egg turner. Dust tops with flour. Leave on the counter to rise 15 minutes, start the preheating of the oven to 500 degrees.

Now the only tricky part, very gently flip the buns or loaves onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet. I made mine too long so I had a tough time of this without special tools so consider that in your plan. Buns would have been better and the egg turner would have worked. Regardless all the great air pockets are on top and you need them switched to the bottom so they will rise through the bread as it bakes so these must be turned after the rise. Put them in the oven in shifts if needed, I did 2 bakes and the second ones waited fine, no excess rise. Done when internal temp is 205, 15 minutes for loaf size.

Don't dismay if your loaves or buns fall or distort shape as you flip them, the oven spring on this recipe is unreal, they pop right back up. This is a bit salty for my taste, but for some it would be just right.

Cool on a wire rack then use a clean cloth to brush off any excess flour that remains on the loaves.

It is a little tough to follow your wording/spelling???????????????? I like the recipe but could you please proof read the directions, they seem a little hard to follow. No offense really just want to try and make it but as you know these Ciabatta'a can be tricky.

I like the lady slipper as we say in Italian, have you tried this in a Boule yet?? and I see your not using the flour basket to rise in. Did you use any glazes on the crust ??. What about the humidity in the oven is there a moisture tray in the recipe somewhere ?? As you know the turning out is always the hard part with this dough, you say it has good oven spring back how well ??.

AL

I'm a little off on visualizing what you are saying as well. I may go ahead and risk it anyways. I always love a good ciabatta bread... but I usually fail at my attempts.

So if I give this a whirl today, I will post the outcome here.

Sorry, I have amended the first post a bit, but let me know if anything is still unclear. I was really tired last night, took a few extra nightshfits and then stayed up baking on our snow day.

The first rise to triple was 1.5 hours for me, but my oven has a bread proof cycle that holds 80 degrees so I tend to be fast on that. I agree I need a bakers spatula, I was thinking that at the time! But no matter, I moved them aside with an egg turner and after the rise they have to be flipped, so again i used the egg turner, but the right tool would have been better for both. Buns could be totally handled by the correct spatula, I'm going to go look and see if they have one big enough to handle a loaf or if I would need a peel as well.

This is a free form bread, no baskets or anything except the well oiled bowl for the first rise. The dough is really sticky so if you turn it out onto parchment it would stick, even that would need to be floured. When you flour the top for the rise after you have cut it then you can just flip it onto the parchment. I always spray mist the oven with water before it starts to heat and in this case did it again as I added the loaves. I did not put a water tray in this time, and still got great results, but it would be interesting to try.

I may do more today, and I'll take pictures along the way. Had I known this would work so well I would have done that the first time.

Thanks for clearing it up, looking forward to seeing your next batch, I will be making some today. I still have a question . I am unclear as to how many loafs and their size this recipe makes.

AL

Way to go Mike!

As soon as I'm done with my cleaning for the day I am going to start this as well. Would love to have subs for dinner. I need me a vegetarian version... but hubby has some left over slow cooked pulled pork waiting on his!

They do look good Mike, and you did not turn them after the rise? How well distributed in the bread are the the air pockets? If that step can be skipped it would make things easier for sure. So sorry to hear of your hen, bummer!

Al I made 4 loaves that came out to be very similar to Mike's in size. Or you could make 8 probably 6 inch sub types. It's not a huge recipe but I don't think the Kitchen Aid would appreciate it being made any bigger.