Opa's Sourdough Ciabatta

Rev 1.07, last revised:  27-Sep-06

"Ciabatta," is an Italian word meaning "slipper".  This distinctive bread gets its name from its slipper like shape.  With a dull flour covered crust, a Ciabatta loaf will be lightly browned, full of large holes, flat, wide, and moderately long--like a favorite slipper...  Enjoy!

Time:    2 days (about 20 hrs) to make

Type:    Lean rustic sourdough

Yield:    2 Ciabatta loaves

The SPONGE:

Whisk all the ingredients into a thick batter, in a bowl.  Allow to ferment for 8-12 hours at or just above room temperature.

The DOUGH:

Final rise in a COLD OVEN for 1-5 hours, bake 450°F [246°C] for 25-35 minutes.

[NB: This type of dough is known as 'high-hydration' (very wet) dough.  If you're used to making 'typical' bread dough's, this will seem awkward & hard to handle (it is!).  Have faith and avoid the temptation to add more flour. - D.]

Dry mix the flour & salt with fingers or a whisk.  Add to the sponge created above, mixing with your fingers or a spoon to combine.  Allow to rest for 15-30 minutes.

Tip out onto a well floured counter (an additional 1/4 - 1/2 cup should be enough) and give the dough at least 6 or so Stretch 'n' Fold or Flatten & Fold cycles at 30 minute intervals using your bench knife and adding additional flour only as necessary.

Divide your dough into 2 parts (or leave whole for a single larger loaf).  Stretch and pull the loaf into the shape desired.  I generally roll the dough back-n-forth a bit to get a nice, tubular shape.  In addition, since this wet dough is hard to handle, I roll the final loaf in flour to keep it from sticking to me--and that's what gives the loaf its "scruffy" appearance.  Since I bake into a cold oven I place my loaf, seams down, onto a baking sheet in a COLD OVEN to rise.  Allow it to rise or proof for 1-5 hours (depends on your culture and the temperature), or until it's doubled or even tripled.  Depending on your culture and the temperature, this should take about ~3-hours.

When ready to bake, turn your oven ON to 450°F [246°C] and bake 25-35 minutes, (for the anal-retentive purists reading here, that would be to an internal temp of at least 200°F [95°C]--that's what the original recipe says, I look at the color of the crust and never check it).  That's how I make it.  If you simply must use a stone or tiles (they can not be used with a cold start), deduct about 5-minutes from the baking time.  Use water if you like.  If you spray it on the loaf, you'll get a delicate, crispy crust.  If you spray it in the oven and/or use a steamer, the crust becomes thicker and chewier (my favorite).  However, in my experience there's enough moisture in this dough that no extra water is needed for excellent results.

Final notes:

The hydration is high but the dough is extremely elastic after the stretch and fold cycles and is surprisingly resistant to deflation.

Stretch 'n' Fold:

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and, using your bench knife to slide underneath, roll the dough in the flour until it no longer sticks and form it into a rough square.  Grasp 2-opposing sides of the dough and stretch it to an oblong with sides in the ratio 3:1.  Fold the dough in 3, like a letter, which will give you a rough square.  Turn through 90 degrees and leave to rest for 10 minutes.  Repeat as specified

Rational:

A number of my fellow bakers have requested that I explain why I do some of the things I do.  I will attempt to itemize and elucidate some of the aspects of this recipe in the order I implement them.  Please keep in mind that these are *my* specific aberrations.  YMMV.

  1. Why "2 days" to make?
    Sourdough starter needs to "come-up-to-speed."  In order to make the results consistent *and* to fit into my daily schedule, I do that by starting it the night before.  By starting it around 2200hrs (10:00 PM) it gets to ferment and "come-around", ready-to-go, between 6 and noon the next day.

    I start almost all of my recipes with a primary ferment of 1-cup of water, 1-cup of flour, and 1/4-cup of starter.  This makes the initial start both easy and consistent.  It also permits me to "change-my-mind" overnight and make most anything I want...the next day...in case I need to.

    In this particular recipe, it also uses a little Rye flour for flavor and color.  Rye flour is particularly good at imparting "sourness" and making the starter active, so it's a good idea to add it into the initial ferment.  When I know that I'll be making this recipe, I'll add the Rye to the first ferment.  When, as often happens, I don't know what I want to make, I just make the vanilla flour, starter, and water preferment.  Adding the Rye, extra water and flour into the dough instead of the sponge doesn't really affect the results in a noticeable manner.
  2. Why [Pre] ferment at 85F?  To some degree, this will be a function of your starter and flour.  My starter seems to do well with this treatment.  I've not noticed any difference using different flours.  But in all cases, the results--for me--of doing it like this have been excellent!  Obviously, YMMV.
  3. How much flour in the preferment?  The goal is to have between 25 and 33% of your flour in the primary (overnight) ferment.  Less will tend towards a less active dough, and more will tends towards a slack and limp dough.  I usually get a tripling or quadrupling during my final rise.
  4. Stretch & Fold: I don't know why, but the "stretch & fold" technique certainly does seem to inject life and activity into sourdough.  I never fail to be amazed by the results one gets by using this technique.
  5. Cold Start:  For a variety of reasons (mostly for efficiency and cost effectiveness--and because all of my recipes are designed to be executed by someone living in an RV) I've chosen to design all of my recipes to use a COLD OVEN as a starting point.  Some folks insist that if you don't pre-heat an oven to hot enough to melt lead for at least 48 hours, you simply can't bake bread.  I've experimented with this for years, and I've found little to convince me that this is necessary.

    I've charted the internal temperatures of "cold" dough inserted into a very hot oven, and done the same for dough inserted into a cold oven; the differences in the internal temperature rise is minor and only seem to have a miniscule effect on the outcome.  At most I add a few minutes to the baking time.  Despite the rabid rantings of the self-important sourdough wizards, rise and finish of the crust didn't seem to be effected at all.  So all of my recipes are written for a COLD OVEN start.  You're welcome to change that.  Just remember to adjust the baking temperature/time a bit to compensate.
  6. To water and steam?  First, there are three distinct instances of watering or "steaming" a loaf during baking in the home oven: 1) spritzing the loaf directly; 2) spritzing the oven walls, and; 3) add hot, boiling water to a tray at the bottom of the oven; or some combination of all of those.  A fourth instance would be:  No extra water is added.

    In my experience when you bake into a cold oven, steaming is a little different than when baking into a preheated oven.  I find that spritzing water on the boule before baking yields a thinner, shinier, crisper--often blistered--crust.  If you like or want that, have at it.  Spritzing water on the hot oven interior makes the crust chewier--and is easy to do, but the oven usually isn't hot enough to make steam for the first few minutes so this isn't very useful (for a cold start).  Adding boiling water to a steam tray, and letting the boule sit in that steam for 5-15 min before turning on the heat makes the crust thick *and* chewy (my favorite!).
  7. Using a stone?  I've done both.  Since I bake into a cold oven, I find that a stone slows the cooking of the bottom ( a useful "feature" if scorching is a problem).  But mostly I find that it adds nothing to a cold oven start.  If you use a hot oven start, you might find it beneficial.
  8. Recipe?  Baking sourdough bread is an exercise in dedication and exploration--not becoming a slave to a chemical formula.  Within the limits impose upon you by time, temperature, and ingredients; you will be able to experiment with a wide latitude of times, temperatures, ingredients, and methods.  Rather than become a slave to a formula or rules, use my recipes as a general guide while you experience the various aspects of this elegant and ancient baking art.

Source:

The original, from which this recipe was derived, was posted to the r.f.sd group by a gracious fellow with the NG handle, "Wcsjohn", and can be found here.