Home Made Ciabatta

I was inspired to try making my own bread after seeing a seemingly simple video recipe from Chef John of Foodwishes.com.

My first attempt a couple of weeks ago ended in a disaster when I "adjusted" the ingredients slightly. I remembered Wolfgang Puck commenting once, "Baking is like an architect. You measure everything VERY exactly."

Baking is like an architect. RIGHT. But I get the essential gist of it, so this time around, I measured everything exactly.

4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon yeast
2 cups warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
cornmeal (for dusting the pan)

I mixed all of that in a big aluminum bowl with a wooden spatula. Now as you mix this, you may start to think the dough is a little too dry. The last time I panicked and added more water. That ended in disaster. Don't add any more water. Just keep mixing this and it will come together eventually. Just expect to exert your arm a little bit.

Cover the bowl with aluminum foil. Now Chef John specified 18 hours for the dough to rise. Since I used a fast rising yeast, I went down to 6 hours. Now I don't know if that's right or what, but that's what I did.

At the end of 6 hours, the dough did indeed rise quite a bit. I transferred the dough to a large baking pan previously dusted with a generous amount of corn meal. I formed the dough into shape, using a bit of flour on my hands and on top of the dough. I then covered the dough and the pan with a towel and allowed it to rise for another hour. (Chef John specifies 2 hours).

I then put the pan in an oven, pre-heated to 220 degrees C for 45 minutes.

At the end of 45 minutes, it turned out pretty well! Well, I think it's around 90% successful. The crust was wonderfully crunchy, but although the inside was quite cooked, it was still a bit moist and slightly dense. Now perhaps I should have allowed it to rise 18 hours and an additional 2 hours in the pan. I will try that next time.