Ciabatta (in the original: “Jason`s Quick Coccodrillo Ciabatta Bread”)
I am translating this great recipe mostly because of those who do not know English, it is entirely taken from one of my favorite sites - The Fresh Loaf (www.thefreshloaf.com).
Preparation steps
- Translation-adapted: (but be sure to read my comments at the bottom of the recipe)
- In Kitchen Aid (or other table mixer) add all the ingredients and mix roughly with a flat attachment, leave for 10 minutes to rest.
- Mix the dough WELL with the flat extension, at first it will look like a pancake mixture, but in a period of 10-30 minutes it will become a compact and very sticky dough. If it starts to climb with the flat extension too soon - replace it and put the hook. You will know that it is over when it starts to separate from the side of the bowl and starts to climb along the hook / flat extension and to separate from the bottom of the bowl. Be careful and monitor the mixer so that the dough does not rise with the extension.
- Put the dough in a well-oiled bowl and leave it to triple, it must TRIPLE. This takes up to 2.5 hours.
- Empty the dough on a well-floured work surface and cut into 3-4 pieces. Sprinkle with oil and sprinkle with flour. Leave the dough (covered) to rise for about 45 minutes, during which time preheat the oven to 260 C.
- After about 45 minutes the loaves will be full of bubbles and lifted. Lift them and stretch them into the final shape of your Ciabatta (rectangle, about 25 cm long) and turn them 180 degrees (this will evenly redistribute the bubbles) and place on a baking sheet covered with baking paper and sprinkled with flour. Try to do this in one go and be gentle, it may look like you have completely destroyed them (meaning bubbles) but they will reappear in the oven.
- Bake at 260 C until they reach 96 C in the center (a total of about 15-20 minutes), halfway through baking, rotate the baking tray by 180 degrees. You can also reduce the temperature to 230 C after the first 10 minutes.
- Here is the link to the original: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2984/jasons-quick-coccodrillo-ciabatta-bread
- by Nadalinka, and another time
Serving
A small comment with the recipe: 1. At the beginning, I changed the amount of salt to 10g, because 15g was too much for me. 2. I tried both Variant 1 (pictured) and Variant 2, both are good. The cover is better when a higher temperature is used all the time. 3. According to the comments on the site, I concluded that the dough can be whipped with a strong enough hand mixer (with dough attachments) and some did it by hand, with strong mixing for 2 minutes and a break of about 10 minutes after that (to the required consistency of the dough -this is a variant for enthusiasts… :-). Here's what the kneaded dough should look like (the dough was kneaded for me in 5 minutes of torturing with a flat extension, at speeds of 4-6) and the dough after rising. 4. I moistened the work surface and covered it with foil (in two rows) and then sprinkled it with flour and spread the dough on it. 5. After that, I divided the dough into two parts and stretched it a little into two long rectangles. I then folded the rectangles like a letter (top side towards the middle and then the bottom side towards the middle) and turned the dough over to the other side. 6. I covered both loaves with foil and a cloth and after about 40 minutes sprinkled them with semolina (maybe flour) and moved both loaves into a prepared baking tray (the side that was up when lifted goes down-along the tray) where I stretched them lengthwise and evenly pressing her fingers squeezed out the excess bubble. Large bubbles are especially inconvenient because they make undesirable cavities in the bread. 7. The total length of baking was 25 minutes at 260 C (take care, you may need to cover the bread with baking paper after 10-15 minutes so that the upper surface does not overcook). If you do not like a very crispy crust, reduce the temperature to 200-230 C after 15 minutes of baking. 8. The ovens are different (mine is gas and the heat source is at the bottom) but I set the baking rack to the lowest position in the oven and then the cavities are most pronounced. The difference is great, and it should be taken into account.
