BurritoZenHappy Day of eating foods. It's Homer's (my sour d'oh starter's) 1 year old Birthday. He was made into Cranberry Orange Bread. Love you #breadsluts and even those who aren't a #breadslut
Doc Edward Morbius ⭕Ciabatta Recipe
Friends and family have come to like these from the store, I decided to try my own. Very high-hydration dough, minimal working, long ferment, and a slightly cooler-than-normal bake.
- 1000g unbleached bread ("strong") flour.
- 850g water @ ~40--50C / - 100--120F.
- 25g salt
- 200g leaven (100% hydration sourdough starter)
- ~50g each rice flour and cornmeal for dusting.
Dough prep:
Feed your starter 8--12 hours prior to dough prep, as per its moods.
Warm your proofing space if necessary.
I heat water prior to adding it to dough. It can be on the warm side as the ferment's not being added now.
- Combine flour and water, autolyse for 30+ minutes.
- Add salt and leaven, combine well. "Pinching" helps distribute leaven and salt through the dough.
- Cover with damp tea towel and place in proofing space (or countertop if your kitchen is warm enough, ~ 22C / 72F or better).
- Perform four stretch-and-folds with 20--30 minutes between each (waiting 20 minutes for the 1st). Return to proofing space after each.
- After fourth S&F, place in your bulk-proofing container if you're using one, and return to proofing space for another 2--3 hours, if possible. You can also immediately begin the retarded (cold) ferment.
- Transfer to fridge for retarded ferment 12--48 hours.
Baking
Remove dough from fridge ~ 1 hour prior to bake.
Preheat oven to 230C / 450F. Use steam-bake setting if available, otherwise put water in a ~5cm / 2in deep pan in bottom of oven.
Flour working space thoroughly. Dough is quite slack, and another 100--200 grams won't hurt it.
Laminate dough in fresh flour, usually 1 set of folds.
Divide dough into rolls. I find a dozen is about the right size. Eyeball these if you're not OCD, weigh them out if you're like me...
Cut parchment paper to fit your baking sheet, set this near your rolls.
If desired, dust bottoms of rolls with cornmeal, and tops with rice flour.
Score rolls if desired. I use kitchen shears for this.
Bake in well-steamed oven for 20--35 minutes, to desired browning. I tend to turn on convection after 15 minutes or so for even baking. Baking to the lighter rather than darker side seems best.
Remove from oven immediately, cool on wire racks.
Flavour is (as with all sourdough) consistently excellent. Consistency tends to be denser and chewier than store-bought, though I suspect they're using bleached AP flour. Rolls freeze well.
Heat at 230C/450F for 6--8 minutes when serving, add 4--6 minutes if heating from frozen and drop to 200C/400F (heats inside, doesn't overly brown crusts).