Redux.
I know I have written about ciabatta bread before, and I have the video up on YouTube. Yes. It should be enough. But until everyone I know is making their own bread, it is not enough. This ciabatta bread is so easy, I just won’t rest until you try it. So please, just comply. It will save me nag time.
Another thing:
Traditional ciabatta bread is made a little differently. I have made it that way, and I have made it this way. The traditional ciabatta bread is supposed to be better. Have more flavor. Better crumb.
Blah. blah. blah.
I just can’t tell the difference.
Maybe I’m just too rough around the edges.
Or dumb.
Uncouth.
Unsophisticated palatte.
Whatever.
I guess my point is, unless you are more refined than I, you won’t notice the difference either. So why go to the extra trouble when you can make it so quickly and easily? I keep coming back to my fast recipe. Start it in the morning, eat it in the afternoon, gone by nightfall. Go to bed. Repeat.
Anyway, I just thought that maybe if I posted pictures, instead of a video, maybe more people would read it and be engaged. Are videos off-putting? I have no idea…
I also think that maybe my weight version of the recipe could be off-putting. So I’ve tried to make it easy for regular volume measurement baking.
But you do need a stand mixer. So, if you don’t have one of those, and still want to make this bread, visit thefreshloaf.com and search ‘ciabatta no mixer’. There are lots of amish-types over there making it successfully by hand. And they probably have really nice looking, muscular arms, too.
Not me. I got a nice cherry red mixer so that I can have nice, puffy, shapeless arms.
Set up: Put a baking stone to go across one oven rack. If not using a stone, then plan to bake the ciabatta directly on a sheet pan/cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Plan to add a few minutes to the baking time if not using a stone.
If using steam (which contributes to slightly more rise and a thinner, crisper crust), place a medium cast iron fry pan in the bottom of the oven which you preheat in the overn and pour hot water in to create steam.
Go get some bread flour, salt and instant yeast (I use SAF instant yeast).
Measure 3-5/8 cups of flour (500 grams) into the stand mixer bowl, add 2 teaspoons of salt (10 grams) and 1 teaspoon of yeast. Then add 2-1/8 cups of tepid water (485 grams). Mix on low with the regular paddle attachment for about 3 minutes and let stand about 20 minutes. [When I'm in a rush, I skip this step, having no idea what the purpose of it is.]
After the rest, turn the mixer to high (speed 8 on a KitchenAid) until the dough starts to crawl up the paddle. Wait too long and you’ll have a mess on your hands, so watch carefully. I recommend a Mukka Latte and the newspaper to pass the time.
Once the dough begins to climb, clean the paddle off and switch to the hook, resuming mixing on medium high speed until dough begins to whack around the sides of the bowl and stay together, mostly clearing the sides of the bowl.
Pour into a greased container and cover either with a lid or plastic wrap.
Allow to rise as long as it takes to more than double the volume. For me it takes about 3-4 hours in the cooler months when my kitchen is about 66-67 degrees. It takes much less time in warmer months.
After it has more than doubled, dust the work surface well with flour and pour the dough out.
Flour the dough generously. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Using two bench scrapers (big hand-held spatulas), lift, pull and stretch the dough, folding it over on itself once in every direction.
Flour well once more and cover well with a kitchen towel for 30 minutes.
Turn your oven on to 500 degrees around this time. Stretch and fold each piece once more then, using your knuckles, gently pound out the bubbles and mostly deflate the dough (bottom left photo). Dust more flour across the tops when your knuckles start to stick. Don’t obsess about adding too much or too little flour. It will be impossible to completely flatten it — and you wouldn’t want to. What you are doing here is getting rid of the bigger bubbles so that you don’t have big, gaping holes in your baked bread. Even when you take this step, though, big bubbles do sometimes happen. After deflating, use the bench scraper, dust loaves well with flour again and coax the dough into the final shape of the loaves. Cover again for 30 minutes.
Dust a large sheet of parchment paper set on top of a similar sized cutting board, with flour. Using two bench scrapers (or any other MacGiver-type apparatus that works), scoop/pinch a loaf up/together and flip upside down onto the floured parchment. Dust the top with flour again, dip the scrapers into the flour and coax back into a nice loaf shape. Repeat for the other loaf. Dust with flour again before baking.
If using steam, fill a cup with about 3/4 cup warm/hot water and have it ready. Slide the loaves, along with the parchment onto the baking stone. Then carefully pour the hot water into the cast iron pan below. Shut the oven door and set the timer for about 8 minutes. You’ll want to keep an eye on things, however. I moved my loaves from front to back about 3/4 of the way through the baking time because the rear position tends to burn. You will learn your oven better after you make bread a couple times. 500 degrees is hot and things are a little more intense at that temp.
When the loaves are well browned, remove to a cooling rack. Internal temp should be at least 200 degrees. Let loaves cool completely before cutting. If you can’t wait, just know that the bread will compress if you cut it before it is cooled and the interior will be a little damp and mooshed. [But it will still taste good.]
PDF 
Really! Thanks for the link. I’ll give it a try and let you know what I think.
-Jennie
I used to be a huge fan of King Arthur.. then someone suggested I at least give it a try. At $5.00 for a 5lb bag for KAF, I was ready to make the switch. I’m so glad I did. I also discovered that Honeyville has a retail store near my home. I went there and all the flours they have are there.. including 00 and anything else you might want. Kind of strange though.. they have all kinds of survivalist stuff there.. like water storage TANKS and solar ovens. Funky.
hi jen. just wanted to say thanks for your informative video and website instructions. i made the bread last weekend (http://mindingmynest.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed/) and it turned out really well. i made it again today using AP king aurthur and only folded and rested once for 45 minutes. it came out perfectly. just was i was hoping for.
i thoroughly enjoy your website and hilarious stories about your family and pets.
cheers! kelly
Jen:
Thanks for your video. I have made every effort to follow your recipe and technique (That’s Alotta Ciabatta).
Summary – While it has been fun, for whatever reason, my bread does not rise to the extent yours does (once in the oven) and the size of the holes in the final Ciabatta are pathetic (much smaller) compared to those in your video. I am using a Kitchen Aid mixer, King Arthur Bread flour and a rapid rise yeast (not SAF). I have checked my oven temp (500 degrees F when the bread goes in)
The first hint that my dough is not like yours is that despite trying water levels from 450 to 500 grams, I cannot get my dough to totally separate from the Kitchen Aid bowl…it comes very close to separating, but after 18 minutes total mixing I just figure that very close is as good as it is going to get and turn the mixer off. On the plus side, the dough is totally smooth and elastic. I have never seen dough that stretches like this stuff does!
If you could make a flour recommendation, I would appreciate. I will also try SAF yeast. If you have any other comments, questions or suggestions, I am listening.
Thanks Much
Ron
Hi Ron, that is a puzzle. Sounds like you are doing all the right things. Have you been using the same yeast throughout? The first thing to suspect is always the yeast. Much like the husband when the wife goes missing.
Because that is so obvious, I’m assuming you’ve purchased new yeast and eliminated that as a suspect. If not, that would be the first thing to check. The next is that rapid rise yeast is slightly different than instant. You can use them interchangeably, but you will need more of the rapid rise. Instant is designed to go into the dry ingredients. Rapid Rise is usually “proofed” first and mixed into the wet ingredients. Either way, though, you do about a 1/2t more of the rapid rise to make up for it’s lower potency.
When you say it isn’t separating, do you mean coming clean from the side of the bowl at the end of the mixing? I wonder if the size of the bowl makes any difference… I use regular bread flour from Costco usually, but I’ve used King Arthur and not had a problem. I do know it has a higher protein content…
My next suggestion would be to use LESS than 450 gm of water. But.. if you ask me,
it’s the yeast. It’s always the yeast.
Just ask Columbo.
Ron, I can add a couple of my thoughts.. if you don’t mind.
Besides the yeast issue, which may cause you some problems – you should invest in Instant Yeast as the recipe calls for… but, I don’t think you’re letting your mixer run long enough. 18 minutes is way less than what I mix mine for. I go about 25-30 mins in my KA at times. The directions from the Fresh Loaf website recommends longer mix times than 18 minutes.. but I suppose each one can be very different. With your results.. I’d go longer. You don’t say what speed on the KA you’re using.. whether you are using the paddle or the dough hook. If you’re using the dough hook try using the paddle.. for some or all of the mix, it doesn’t matter, but you just have to watch the dough as it tends to creep up the paddle unless you’re watching it carefully. Secondly, the speed must be the highest speed on your KA.
When I make this bread using my other machine, my Electrolux, I can never quite get the good results as I do when I use my KitchenAid. I suspect it is the speed at which it beats the dough and the length of time it’s being beaten for.
In all likelihood, you will get better results with instant yeast, faster speeds/longer mix times. I personally don’t like King Arthur Flours, but that’s just me. I find that unbleached flour performs better, but the brand Better for Bread is also a good performer. I use Honeyville and love the flavor, texture and performance.
By chance, are you using tap water with alot of flouride or chemicals? Or is your water from a home filtration or R/O system? Ive heard that some people have problems with their water. My water is filtered through a Reverse Osmosis system and I have never had problems, so I’m not sure this is a wives tale or what.. but you might try some bottled water sometime.. just a final thought. Good luck!
Thanks Jen and BellesAZ for your comments. Hopefully I will have a chance to give your suggestions a try this weekend. I ordered some SAF yeast today. Sounds like concentrating on the usual suspect(s) might get me somewhere.
Ron
Ciabatta success!!!!
Thanks again. I changed to SAF yeast. Voila, my first batch was remarkably improved. Spurred on by success, went full bore. Headed over to Costco and bought their bread flour….50 pounds is the minimum purchase….and, yes, even better results.
Being a former chemistry teacher, had to think about what is going on here. IMHO, here is what is happening when a good ciabatta is produced with large holes. The instant yeast provides the quickest gas generation of any yeast. Once in tne hot oven, gas volume increases both because of the heat and because of the instant yeast continuing to generate the carbon dioxide. Small bubbles form initially, strengthened by the gluten in the dough. However, because of the rapid increase in gas volume and the wet dough, the small bubbles are not stable enough to hold the gas. Therefore they burst, forming larger bubbles.
This is why the rapid yeast I was using prior to the SAF formed great looking bread but with small bubbles. The gas generation was slow enough that the bubbles could easily hold the gas…..they did not burst to form larger bubbles. Once the rapid rise yeast was swapped out for instant yeast, the gluten in the King Arthur flour couldn’t quite keep up with the rapid gas volume increase, so the small bubbles burst to form larger bubbles. Then, when lower gluten Costco bread flour was used in place of the KA bread flour, the bubbles were even less stable (because of the lower gluten in Costco flour). Therefore, an increased amount of larger bubbles formed with the rapid gas generation.
Well, that is my reasoning, which may or may not be correct or square with your actual experience. Nevertheless. Thank you. Your comments really helped.
Ron
hey ron. i’ve been following along with your comments here. i switched to SAF yeast as well and the quality of my bread improved dramatically. i especially loved your great info about the difference in bread flour too. i’ve started to use KA AP flour almost exclusively. i read somewhere that in some fancy-pants, blind taste test, KA AP flour was chosen as the flour that best reproduced the taste and texture as that found in “authentic” parisian baguettes. at any rate – i have to agree with jen that being able to make great bread at home is something akin to having super powers and makes people think you have it all going on. which in my case is absolutely LOL hysterical. cheers! kelly
Jennie,
I came across your blog today in my search for a ciabatta recipe. Your blog is so fun to read. I love your sense of humor. I’m going to give it a try today. I hope my yeast is as good as what you’re using.
Thank you!
Azra
Jennie.. DON’T DO IT!! Once you do, you’re hooked! There is also a huge discussion of this bread over at The Fresh Loaf. If you get a chance, though.. watch Jen’s video. It really is one of the best I’ve ever seen and she makes it so simple to master. Get new instant yeast for this recipe.. if you have doubts about your instant yeast. Then go treat yourself to a new brick of SAF Instant Yeast and keep it in your refrigerator. You’ll be glad you did. My yeast lasts a LONG LONG time!
Thanks Azra! I can’t wait to hear how it goes. I love bread evangelizing! So much less scary than real evangelizing!
BellesAZ: I’m Jennie and Jen. So who are you saying “don’t do it!” too? I’m confuse-ed. You must mean Azra.
Jen, I had a massive brain fart.. those things happen.
I was joking with Azra.. once you make this bread, you’re hooked! Sorry for the confusion!
BellesAZ and Jennie, I DID it! Oh my, this recipe is easy and the bread turned out great. Very light and bubbly! I’m so happy with this recipe esspecially that I didn’t have to wait 12 or more hours for it to rise. The first time I made it last week I actually baked it at 425F because I was a little scared of the 500F. It was done in 30 minutes but it turned out great. Since then, I’ve made it 3 more times. I’m hooked. Today I actually tried adding a little whole wheat. If I’m going to be eating this much bread, I wanted to ease my guilt by adding little something for the heart. Surprisingly, it was still very light and bubbly. I’ve added a little less than a cup of whole wheat. Oh and by the way, I’m also skipping that first “rest” period that Jennie skips when she’s in hurry. Oh, thank you Jennie for an awesome recipe. I can’t wait to show my mom and sister and everyone I know!
Azra
I’ve also double the amount of yeast because I wasn’t sure how my yeast stacks up against SAF yeast. Even with 2 tsp I couldn’t taste it in my bread, so that’s good. I wonder if I would get same results with just the prescribed amount? I also keep my yeast in fridge. I’ve separated my 1-lb yeast package into those small baby food jars in hopes that it will stay fresh longer. I also keep all these jars in a ziplock bag to keep moisture out.
There is something special about the bread when it is baked in a high temperature oven. I love the extra crispiness of the edge and the taste of REAL bread crust that has a borderline burn taste that is so delicious. Don’t be afraid of a high oven.. your bread won’t catch on fire! I think it helps with the hole expansion as well.
I keep all my yeast in one jar – no muss no fuss. It’s in one of those nicely sealed jars with the flip lock lever. Sometimes it sits on my counter for a couple of days before I realize it needs to go in the refrigerator. I am a yeast abuser
There is no need to double the yeast if your yeast is fresh. Fresh SAF and Fresh other brand should net you the same results.
I love this recipe! It was perfect the first time, second time, third time…Thank you so much! I will make this at least 1000 more times.
So happy to hear that! Given that Minnesota has been having 81 degree dew points and 115 heat indexes, bread hasn’t been in my recent history. So I’m glad someone is. Now go try the baguette recipe. It’s even easier.
Ahhh… this post brings back memories of last summer when I overheated my kitchen to make bread! This summer I’m not eating breads or starches so it doesn’t make much sense to make fresh, enticing bread. But I can dream about it… I’ll be fresh bread baking again 3 weeks after autumn hits. After I get all this junk outta my trunk.
In a bit of a rush, I decide to skip the 2nd rising. Made my dough a little firmer and poured it directly onto my greased baking plate and let it rise. Sprinkled with extra flour, and then I popped it into a HOT oven till a good colour and hollow sound resulted.
I know – not the real thing by any means, but a reasonably yummy substitute in a short time. Fab with my lasagne, and my kids actually declared it better than the store bough ciabatta we’d had the night before.
I’ll definately try doing it “the right way” next time and see what the difference is
Awesome eastcoastjac! I, too, have hurried it along before and found it to work just fine. Maybe not quite as airy. But great nevertheless!
Been meaning to comment on the subject of dropping the second rise for a very long time. I’ve not done the second rise since the second time I made the recipe. Honestly I didn’t have a Gap nag handy. here are some modifications I’ve made which gives me two loafs or one loaf and a medium pizza in under two hours and I see no differience in loft or texture. I follow the recipe pretty close up through the kneading stage but I set my mixer on full high. I also use a couple of 25lb sandbags that I have from my photo studio. I use these to lock down the mixer freeing me to move about the house even during the initial paddle stage. I know Jen would agree that there is a discribe sound the dough and mixer make when it starts to climb the paddle. It sort of fliers and teases and then settles in to the real sound and you get attuned to it after awhile if you make a lot of ciabatta. After the hook goes on I set it on high, set the timer for 11 minutes and walk away confident that my sandbags will keep my Kitchen Aid from dancing off the counter. It’s amazing how much you can get done elsewhere in 11 minutes! Why you can respond to at least nine Facebook posts. LOL.
While the kneading, I’ve turned the electric oven on warm and placed a large crock container in it and set another timer for three minutes. I pull the crock out after three, turn the oven off and turn the light on. I my oven it gets to about 120 which is perfect for forcing a fast rise. I butter up the warm crock and toss in the dough, cover with saran wrap and into the oven for one hour b in the summer it goes out into the sun. Min of 80 degrees for that though. I shape my loafs Judy like Jen does but I use parchment paper on a wooden peel for transferring to ston in oven. The dough sits part of the time in the container while the overcomes to 500 and part of the time getting shaped.
One thing folks should try is making pIzza with this dough. I make WAY more pizza than bread loafs with it. It’s fantastic. Just use lots of flour and roll it out. As wet as it is, if you use enough flour you can easily roll it out, fold it into quarters and the transfer to parchment on peel and unfold. I’ve never had it stick. The pizza crust is bubbly and chewy the way I like it.
Oops meant to type Gap “bag”. LOL. Typed it on the iPhone so I’m sure there ate tons of typos- sorry.
I really hate the auto correct feature on these phones. Fliers and teases? Really?
That’s a lot of typing on an iphone Steve… and great info, thanks!
(I’m not sure I’d bother with a pair of 25 lb sand bags – just put the Cuisinart on the ground and let it wander!)
Great idea Heyjami! You could strap a mop head to the bottom and let it mop the floor as it skitters around. Yeah the sandbags are definitely not for everyone and not even for me every time I bake this recipe. It’s a pain (literally) to haul them into the house for this.
Steve