when we first moved to the states, we were extremely disappointed by the quality of the bread. living in germany really spoils you when it comes to bread! so my mom offered the solution: a bread machine! it is definitely my most beloved equipment in the kitchen – besides the wine opener!
this is a recipe for ciabatta bread that i tried out last week, while in coronavirus quarantine. the original recipe comes from this site: https://www.food.com/recipe/ciabatta-bread-29253. here is my (successful) attempt! it goes so well with soups: lentils soup, bean soup, ribollita soup (recipe to follow), any kind of soup that you might want to drop in some bread crumbs and make “papara” (for the greek audience: όχι τον παπάρα, την παπάρα….) So, here is how it goes:
Ingredients:
- 1 1⁄2 cups of water
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar (i used brown sugar)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 1⁄4 cups bread flour (i used type 405)
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons bread machine yeast (i used the dry, active yeast).
We start by putting all the ingredients in the bread machine IN ORDER (if you do it by hand — good luck!). I guess it differs depending on the bread machine. But for mine (its a kenwood) you first put the liquids in (water, olive oil) and then the rest.
TIP: i found that it makes sense to put salt first, then flour and last, i open up a little hole in the flour, pour the yeast there and i cover it with the sugar. it helps the bread rise apparently because the sugar activates the yeast or something along these lines.
Anyways, you let the bread machine do the kneading – my bread machine takes 1hour and a half for this… i was super skeptical about this step but it turned out fine! Once the kneading is over, we place the dough on a flour-sprinkled wooden board. the dough at this point should be super sticky and hard to get it off your hands. so remember to sprinkle your hands with flour as well. Cover the dough with a bowl and let it rest (i don’t know why we call it “rest”) for like 15 minutes. Another step i was skeptical about but since i have no idea what i’m doing, i followed it.
So – 15 minutes after and you have the dough laying right there in front of you resting…. take a baking tray aside, place a sheet of baking paper on it and sprinkle it with flour (a lot of sprinkling in this recipe…). Split the dough in half and place each half on the baking paper. Create an oval like almost rectangular shape loaf from each half . You will need to sprinkle again the top with flour and start dimpling the loafs.
Now, i would like to admit i have no idea what dimpling the bread means. After googling it, i would describe it as softly massaging the bread, spreading the dough from the middle to the edges. You do that for a bit (don’t overmassage i guess….) and you let it rest again for 45 minutes. Ideally in a “draft-free” place. Since we have a cat wandering around, i placed it in the (not-heating) oven.
After the 45 minutes have passed, you do a bit more massaging the bread (at this point, it feels goooooooood) and you preheat the oven to 210℃ fan only. When ready, push the tray in, leave it to bake for 30 minutes and….
TIPS (gained from experience)
- don’t be stingy with the salt. it says 1 and a half teaspoons, do that!
- the air-bubbles is a good sign! you want to have them!
- better prepare two loafs with the dough rather than one big!
- you can just have it with some olive oil on top, a bit of salt and oregano… yummy.
- good luck!