Loaf 90 – Ciabatta For Gifts
At the end of this adventure I will figure out how much bread I gave away – it’s been quite a lot. Here are three more loaves made as a year end gift for Sarah’s co-workers. Of course the fourth loaf stayed home with us.
There was one mistake making these loaves that I’ve done before and have now learned about again. Ciabatta is a very lax dough due to the high ratio of water; it ends up being shaped the way it is because it can’t hold any other form. To get the holes distributed evenly throughout the loaf it must be flipped over half way thorough the proofing stage. I put the wet dough on parchment paper and after an hour of proofing the paper had absorbed water and stuck to the dough. I couldn’t flip the loaves over and remove the parchment without damaging the loaves, so they proofed for the second hour untouched. The net result in these loaves (as you can see in the picture) is that the bottom of the loaf is dense and the large holes are all at the top.
To remedy this in the future the loaves have to be on a well floured non-absorbent surface during the first half of proofing.
Uneven crumb because of not flipping the loaves halfway through proofing.
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- Mixed dough.
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- Same dough after a night in the fridge.
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- About three times bigger overnight.
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- Four loaves, shaped and proofing in a cool oven.
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- Uneven crumb because of not flipping the loaves halfway through proofing.
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- A future in sandwiches and French toast.