Loaf 45 – Ciabatta for Meals
Not every loaf of bread I bake now has a specific learning purpose, and that’s great. I feel like I’ve already accomplished what I wanted to learn with this project, which is to understand bread well enough that I can “whip up a batch” whenever we want it. That was the case for this loaf. As we planned out our menu for the week we thought some ciabatta would be nice, so BAM! Pulled pork sandwiches and French toast.
Pulled pork sandwich on toasted ciabatta (with fruit, salad and G&T)
French toast
I did work on my ciabatta shaping skills more. Ciabatta is a very wet dough at 80% hydration. I’ve had challenges each time I’ve made it in getting nice looking loaves. This time I handled the dough very gently and used a LOT of flour on the table and over the dough so I could manipulate it without sticking to the table or my hands. It worked beautifully.
Shaped loaves - I was much more careful this time and used a lot of flour to handle them with
Finished loaves
Lessons:
- That’s it: use lots of flour when shaping ciabatta loaves.
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- After a night of rising, ready to shape
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- Shaped loaves – I was much more careful this time and used a lot of flour to handle them with
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- Finished loaves
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- Sliced loaf
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- Pulled pork sandwich on toasted ciabatta (with fruit, salad and G&T)
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- French toast
