The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, Ciabatta

I’ve baked this heavenly item before and knew what to expect from the dough, but this go-round I tried my hand at an overnight poolish created with some natural leavening.  My sour dough starter came to life in October of 2007, (I aptly named her, Alpha-Omega)  It sits/sat in my fridge through the latest round of storm power outages and lucky  for me, she still knows how to create magic.  I would have loved to have continued on through the recipe process using her for round two of the dough making, but company was arriving and the bread was part of a plan for sandwich making.

My couche fell victim to a spilt water glass.   It’s soggy and very limp frame was cast toward the laundry room.  Yes, I am guilty of washing my prize, but this actually was the second time for it to whirl in the washing machine.  It’s very first, egg-bread-dough-rising, yielded a spin, too.  It shrank to about 2/3’s of its original size.  I can happily report that it is now down to about half its original mass (sniff, sniff, sniff).   Third times gonna be a charm!

These loaves were not baked according to the steam process that Peter Reinhart encourages, but I did mist them per his instruction.  They still arrived hot off the stone with a tender, and very soft crusting.  I got a little heavy-handed in my transfer and in my flour dusting…I also forgot to use my semolina stash, but these loaves were tasty, chewy, and an absolute delight.

   

 The crumb fails my air-pocket test, but I’m pretty sure the chanting of the masses to, “Hurry!  I’m hungry!” had much to do with the de-flate. 

Our second day of munching brought the toasting of slices served up with a slathering of  blueberry and cherry jam. It’s a tough call as to whether the prior days sandwich, or this, was the prize winner.   I’m eager to make a fully soured Ciabatta.  The hint of tang in these loaves is promise yet of another adventure.  Many thanks to the  talents of Peter Reinhart, www.PeterReinhart.typepad.com , his,  The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, stands far and above all other baking books within my kitchen.  One of these days I’m going to venture out and try another offering, but until then, this is my reference for all things, yeasted.

Kudos to Nicole for this lovely challenge,  www.pinchmysalt.com

Happy bakes 2 all of U!

;)

~ by coffeegrounded on July 5, 2009.