[Paul teaches you to bake bread] Ciabatta
Screenshots from “Paul Hollywood’s Bread” Recipe source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/ciabatta_05418 Ciabatta is one of the more difficult European breads. Once the dough is fully proofed, handle it as little as possible to preserve the air inside the dough. Makes 2 loaves of ciabatta.
Ingredients
Steps
Make the starter: mix half of the flour, half of the salt, half of the water and 4 g yeast in a bowl.
Make the starter: knead until the ingredients for the starter are combined into a dough.
Make the starter: take out the formed starter dough, oil the work surface, and knead by hand for about 5 minutes.
Make the starter: put the starter into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film, and let it rise for 6 hours.
This is what the fully fermented starter looks like: the surface is wrinkled.
Dissolve the remaining salt in the water and use this salt water to make the main dough.
Put the remaining flour, yeast, olive oil and the starter into a stand mixer and mix together.
At this stage the dough is not ready yet; the gluten breaks easily.
Gradually add the salt water and continue kneading (adjust the amount of water flexibly according to the absorption of the flour and the firmness of the dough).
Knead until the dough can stretch into a long thin film without tearing easily. This takes about 6–10 minutes.
Take a square container and oil it. A square container is used to minimize shaping and therefore reduce the loss of air in the dough.
Put the dough into the container, cover with a lid, and let it rise until doubled in size.
This is what the fully proofed dough looks like.
Generously dust the work surface with a mixture of flour and semolina. Here, the “wheat flour” is semolina; in China, “flour” usually already means wheat flour. In any case, the flour used for dusting should be relatively absorbent. When turning the dough out of the container, be very careful to keep the dough in one piece and to degas it as little as possible.
Divide the dough into two portions.
To prevent the dough from spreading out too much and becoming too flat, fold each piece of dough over once.
Quickly transfer the dough pieces onto a baking tray dusted with flour and let them proof for another 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 220°C and bake for 30 minutes.
Let the baked ciabatta cool, then slice it. It is delicious served with extra virgin olive oil for dipping.