Ciabatta

 

Having a picnic and enjoying the bright sunshine in the summer are very popular in the UK. There is only a very short time to have a warm sunshine. Of course, sandwich is a popular food for the picnic. And then, sandwich is the reason why Ciabatta was created by Italian baker. At that time, the French Baguette was very popular to make the sandwiches. The Italian bake was looking for an alternative to make sandwiches. So… we have Ciabatta now. It is higher water content dough so that it is really hard to bake it. Let’s go and challenge it.

 

Oven Temperature Setting: 240C/465F, Baking Time: around 20~25 minutes

Recipe: Serve for 6 ea (Reference Paul Hollywood)

 

Steps of Overnight Preparation

 

(1) Weight all the ingredients
(2) Mix flour and yeast in a bowl
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: Different instant yeast manufacturers have different instructions. Please check it.)

 

(3) Add water in the flour mixture. Stir it into until well-incorporated.

(4) After well-mixed. Cover the lid and put in the fridge. Stay at least 8 hours.
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: This kind of overnight preparation is similar to an technique used in Taiwan. It is okay to leave there around 1 day.)

 

Steps of Main Dough

(1) Weight all the ingredients

(2) Add the flour and yeast into the overnight preparation dough and mix it well.
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: Different instant yeast manufacturers have different instructions. Please check it.)

 

(3) Gradually add 150 ml water into the dough and mix it.

(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: If the yeast needs to add into the water, the step (3) will become to “Add yeast into 150ml water and wait around 5 minutes. Gradually add into the dough and mix it.”)
(4) Add salt into the remaining 40 ml water. And then pour into the dough and mix it.

(5) Grease olive oil on the baking tray. Fold the dough onto the baking tray. Gently shape the dough into the long and flat rectangular.

(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: DO NOT KNEAD IT. Shaping the dough into the rectangular can make us easier to divide and shape it later. )
(6) Put in a warm place. Wait around 1 hour to let the dough double in size.
(7) Divide it into 6. Move the 6 piece into a heavily flour surface.  Drizzle some flour over the top. Wait another 30 minutes. Then, send it into a pre-heated oven at 240C/465F.
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: If you like to have more golden and crispy crust, putting an empty tray in the oven when you pre-heat the oven. Add the boiling water into the tray just before you send the bread into the oven.)

 

It is really a good Ciabatta recipe. My friends and I had a lovely light dinner, a Ciabatta Ham Sandwich last night. It is so YUM. If you are planning your picnic this weekend, try to use Ciabatta this time. Have a crispy crust and soft light inside. It can be very good even you just want to enjoy Ciabatta only. Enjoy it!