Ciabatta bread video Wood-Fired Oven and Cooking Videos Discuss Ciabatta bread video in the Good Background Information forums; That's interesting. I think there is a lot of taste involved here. A typical supermarket and even mainstream bakery Ciabatta ...

[james]

That's interesting. I think there is a lot of taste involved here. A typical supermarket and even mainstream bakery Ciabatta is pretty terrible. They use very light Tipo 00 flour and to an American palate, the bread is very dry and lacking in crumb character. We used to joke that there was no bread on the bread. Crust and holes. :-) Equally, sometimes you have a somewhat dense Ciabatta from a good quality American microbakery, and it's a great bread, but it isn't an Italian Ciabatta.

My thinking is that there is a nice middle ground.

I'm going to keep thinking and experimenting with different flours, and the Hamelman recipe.

Thanks Elizabeth for this.

James

[FigliodiMariaeGiovanni]

Couldn't open this, will try at home later.

[Ken524]

James,

Thanks for posting the recipe and the details. Definitely something I want to try.

[Dutchoven]

A good option might be to blend the flours together...the time the dough has in both the poolish and in the initial fermantation will develop gluten quite well(I think)...especially with the steps of folding the dough...our baguettes and ciabatta are both made with blends of bread and AP flour. I am going to begin the recipe tonight...will most likely get baked in the inside oven on a stone and not the WFO
In any event it was great looking bread...did it have the nice shiny interior?...looks like it should have...make sure you let me know when that PrimaVera is available to the general public...I have two people for whom it might be the right fit...have to suggest it to them!!!!
Best
Dutch

[james]

Thanks Dutch,

The crumb was pretty good. Moist and shiny, though the holes could be better formed. The dough did overproof and fall in a little. But trying to improve is the fun part.

The Primavera is generally available, and I am happy to say it is selling really well.
James

[Dutchoven]

The Primavera is generally available, and I am happy to say it is selling really well.
James

That's good! I will talk to them about it then!

I know you might have just missed the query but....how did you handle the transfer from the proofing board to the peel?
Best
Dutch

[james]

Dutch,
I used a metal pizza peel to get my loaves from the board to the wood peel. It seemed like it would be the easiest way to accurately set the bread in the oven. Basically, I used pizza technique, where I held a tip of the bread and shot the peel under it. I lightly re-shaped it on the wood peel.

What do you think?
James

[Dutchoven]

James,
I think you did a great job of it!
That is IMHO the most difficult part of handling the ciabatta. I kind of figured that was what you did, given your experience making pizza. I think it is a very good way of doing it. We often proof ours in a couche so we have to flip them onto a turning board and then slide them onto the peel(can be very stressful when the loaves are borderline overproofed(thanks to rain or otherwise). Every once in a while a few get a bit deflated but, the flavor doesn't change when they do that.
Oh, I meant to say also that the amount of char you had on these was not enough, at least for me, to consider them charred.
On oven steaming I would recommend you go to whatever garden center you like and get one of those pump sprayers(size doesn't really matter). Some have a copper wand(which would be really durable) but even the plastic is fine for spryaing in the oven. It will give you a continuous spray that will more effectively fill the oven with steam as you can put the tip way in the back and work your way out!
Best
Dutch

[dbhansen]

Originally Posted by Dutchoven

On oven steaming I would recommend you go to whatever garden center you like and get one of those pump sprayers...

Dutch, I'm intrigued. Do you mean one of those ~3-gallon pressurized sprayers you might use for pesticides, etc? Sounds like a great solution.

[james]

Hey Dutch and Jim,

How long do you run the garden spray in your oven? Also, could you guess at how long that would translate in a small oven like the Primavera?

Thanks for that.

Dutch, I can imagine that dealing with larger volumes of bread, weather and oven temperature can be stressful. Do you find that the couche really changes the character of the bread, when compared with final proofing on a board?
James