Ciabatta
Starter:
1/4 teaspoon brown sugar
2/3 cup hot water
3 tablespoons warm nondairy milk
1/2 teaspoon granulated yeast
1 cup unbleached white flour Dough:
1/2 teaspoon yeast
1 cup hot water
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1. Prepare the starter the night before you want to serve it. Don't be tempted to use more yeast than stated. To make starter, dissolve vegan sugar in water. Add milk and sprinkle yeast on top. Do not stir. Leave until frothy. Mix in flour to form a loose batter. Cover bowl and leave overnight.
2. To make dough, sprinkle yeast onto water in a small bowl. Do not stir. Leave for 5 minutes to dissolve. Add to the starter, along with the olive oil. Mix well. Mix in the flour and salt to form a wet sticky dough.
3. Beat with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes. It will be too wet to knead. Cover bowl and rise until tripled in size, approximately 3 hours. Do not stir. Generously sift more flour on 2 ungreased baking trays.
4. Scrape half the dough out onto a tray. Don't expect the dough to resemble regular bread dough. It does not! Much, much softer. Using well-floured hands, or a spatula, shape carefully into a rough rectangular or oval shape.
5. Dust loaf with sifted flour. Repeat procedure with remaining dough. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Leave loaves to proof, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Bake in center of oven for approximately 30 minutes.
Don't be put off by the absence of whole-wheat flour. This bread is not fluffy and has a good chewy crust.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
: ^) Jade watcher, that's great news, it's fabulous bread, glad you can share in the secret...
This bread is awesome!!!!! 50 cents worth of ingredients for something I usually pay $3 to $5 for at the store. Very worth the wait! Thank you so so so much!
:)>>> :-*
So glad others are also finding this recipe really great, I think it's fantastic, love the texture, love the crust, it is a damn near perfect loaf I reckon...
This turned out really great!
It tastes just as good as Ciabatta loaves I have bought in the store even if mine do not look as pretty!
Thanks for the recipe. I will totally be baking this again.
well, the verdict is out.....the bread tasted really nice.....next time though I'll make the starter about 15 hrs ahead, I think that will bring out more flavor. Made paninis with both the loaves.....and that made our dinner absolutely divine!!!
Just finished making these. The loaves spread a little more than I would've liked. Will post a pic soon and also let you know how it tastes.
I've made this a few times before and I have some more in the oven right now. The other times I've made it, I've followed the recipe perfectly and it was good but really pale. So this time I didn't let it rise until tripled...I just let it rise for about 30 minutes and it almost doubled in that time, then I put it on the baking sheet and let it proof for 20 mins and put it in the oven. It still has a few minutes to go, but the loaves are nice and golden and puffed up and they smell wonderful. I can't wait to eat it!
:)>>>
Just another thought Taraja, I wonder how generous you have been when flouring the tray? It pays to be very generous.
Greetings Taraja. It's great to see that someone has tried this recipe. I think the flavour is perfect too. I especially love the crust. In fact, I really like the texture of the whole loaf. I've never used a baking stone, so have no useful comment to make about that. I've only ever used a tray, as described, and it has never stuck to the bottom. I do hope you tried again and were successful. Failing that, try using an ordinary old baking tray. Best of luck!
Cheers!
Rebecca
Just got done making this. The flavor is perfect, light and spongy like ciabatta should be. But it stuck to my baking stone like mad and I lost the bottoms to both loaves :'(. So, will grease the pan next time and hope for the best.