Frittata? Ricotta? Honey, how about Ciabatta.

Captain’s Log Day 1

Today we started to make some ciabatta dough. The first step was making the biga, or sponge. This was made of yeast, flour, and water. These ingredients combined to make a slightly soupy mixture that we let sit for 24 hours.

Captain’s Log Day 2

Today was the day. The day for some bread to be baked. We took our biga, which was now permeated with air holes caused by the fermentation of the yeast.

Next we combined the biga with milk, oil, and water and broke up the biga with our hands. Then we added this now soupy mixture to flour, salt, and yeast in a food processor, mixing it until combined.

Then we performed the windowpane test to see if the gluten matrix had formed sufficiently.

The next step was to let the dough rest and rise for an hour.

~Note the melted mozzarella-like consistency and appearance of the dough~

We then folded the dough in on itself eight times and let it sit for another half hour.

After letting her rise for the half hour, we cut her in half and shaped her into two rectangles and put slices on the bread.

We put the dough in the oven with a cup of ice to steam them at 450 degrees for 30 minutes until golden brown.

Look at that SHINE

After letting the loaves cool (for maybe not enough time) we cut the first loaf with a serrated bread knife and smushed some of the bread, but then we cut her again after waiting some more and the bubbles on the inside were small but lovely, due to the fact that the dough was a little dry when we stuck it in the oven.