Lately I feel I’m getting closer to getting the Ciabattas that I wanted from my regular oven, after years of on and off experimenting. I’ve always had extremely open crumb Ciabatta and Schiachiatta from my Ooni, baked at 425c. A totally different type of crumb than my normal oven at 230c.
While one baked at 230c will never be as open, I quite enjoy this texture. It’s very light, with a thin cracker-like shell, and a kaleidoscope of flavours. Sweet wheat, then sourness from fermentation, then the savoriness of the crumb came through. Key for me was reasonably extensible dough (typically around 80-85% hydration for my flours, depending on how much whole grain I’m using), and fermentation must be pushed far. The dough had to be very soft and delicate before getting to the oven, but not at the verge of collapsing.
FORMULA:
75% bread flour (Prima Little Shepherd, 12.4% protein)
25% freshly milled organic hard red wheat (dr gram, 9% protein)
80% hydration
38.5% starter at peak
2.5% salt
METHOD:
Autolyse 3 hrs (in the fridge because my kitchen is hot hot hot).
Mix with paddle attachment until full gluten development in KitchenAid mixer, about 10mins. Round the dough and let it rest.
1x bench fold and 2x coil fold separated by about 60-90mins.
Cold retard in fridge overnight.
The next day, dump the dough into VERY liberally floured countertop. Let the dough relax for about 1hr, then liberally flour the top, and cut into slabs.
Move dough slabs to VERY liberally floured couche. Let the Ciabatta slabs final proof on the couche until ready to bake.
Preheat oven to 230c with baking steel inside. Bake the ciabbata 8mins with steam (fan off), and 4mins without steam (fan forced).
Let cool on a wire rack until completely cool to the touch before cutting.
Total fermentation times:
3.5 hrs bulk @ 30c.
14 hrs cold retard @ 0c fridge (the dough was part frozen by morning).
2 Comments
Lately I feel I’m getting closer to getting the Ciabattas that I wanted from my regular oven, after years of on and off experimenting. I’ve always had extremely open crumb Ciabatta and Schiachiatta from my Ooni, baked at 425c. A totally different type of crumb than my normal oven at 230c.
While one baked at 230c will never be as open, I quite enjoy this texture. It’s very light, with a thin cracker-like shell, and a kaleidoscope of flavours. Sweet wheat, then sourness from fermentation, then the savoriness of the crumb came through. Key for me was reasonably extensible dough (typically around 80-85% hydration for my flours, depending on how much whole grain I’m using), and fermentation must be pushed far. The dough had to be very soft and delicate before getting to the oven, but not at the verge of collapsing.
FORMULA:
75% bread flour (Prima Little Shepherd, 12.4% protein)
25% freshly milled organic hard red wheat (dr gram, 9% protein)
80% hydration
38.5% starter at peak
2.5% salt
METHOD:
Autolyse 3 hrs (in the fridge because my kitchen is hot hot hot).
Mix with paddle attachment until full gluten development in KitchenAid mixer, about 10mins. Round the dough and let it rest.
1x bench fold and 2x coil fold separated by about 60-90mins.
Cold retard in fridge overnight.
The next day, dump the dough into VERY liberally floured countertop. Let the dough relax for about 1hr, then liberally flour the top, and cut into slabs.
Move dough slabs to VERY liberally floured couche. Let the Ciabatta slabs final proof on the couche until ready to bake.
Preheat oven to 230c with baking steel inside. Bake the ciabbata 8mins with steam (fan off), and 4mins without steam (fan forced).
Let cool on a wire rack until completely cool to the touch before cutting.
Total fermentation times:
3.5 hrs bulk @ 30c.
14 hrs cold retard @ 0c fridge (the dough was part frozen by morning).
3.5 hrs final proof @ 30c.
What are you using to mill? looks amazing!