Bread experiment #1: Bread baker's apprentice-Ciabatta w/pic

So I got my 12lbs of bacon curing yesterday and today I moved into something I have been wanting to do for a while, baking my own loaf of good bread.

First up, the ciabatta recipe from Bread Baker's Apprecntice.

Has anyone in this forum made this? Or anything from this book?

I had some difficulties getting my poolish to become bubbley and foamy in three hours, ended up letting it sit overnight and this morning it was about right. Don't know if it is bad to let it work all night and not be refrigerated. Any thoughts here?

At this point I have done the stretch and fold once and am letting it sit for 30 minutes at which point I will repeat.

This bread making stuff can be so time consuming!

Hi,

I was over at Amazon.com, I found at least two books with the same name. Do you mind linking to the book you are specifiying?

P.S. I am right now working on my pork bellies!

Regards,

Bread Baker's Apprentice

Where did you get your pork bellies from?

When all said and done, I think mine ended up being pretty thin. Perhaps at the largest point being 1.5"-2".

Next time I might call a couple days in advance to see if they can get thicker bellies.

That's thicker than the last ones I got from Peoria, which were under 1" in many places and had a couple of places where something had obviously been cut out all the way to the skin. I'm glad the Halsted ones are at least better than that.

I think I figured out the problem with my poolish. I am using active yeast and not instant yeast.

More on this later.

Hi,

I think I lucked out on the pork belly selection at Peoria Packing House, who was replenishing their bone-on pork bellies when I was there around 9:15 AM yesterday:



When I first arrived they had several pretty slim bellies, which made me think of the earlier comments. While I was contemplating what to do, they began restocking the pork bellies. My feeling is if you don't see what you want on the table, then tell them what you need because they just may have out back.

From the two bellies purchased for $1.39 per pound, I now have 16 pounds curing in the refrigerator. I am considering making pozole from the ribs I cut off. I also bought a pot roast for $1.79 per pound.

Regards,

Ok, so I am all done with my first bath of Ciabatta. Figured out a couple of things along the way.

1. My poolish did not take the 3-4 hours mentioned in the book because I used active instead of instant yeast.

2. The book mentions the more you can stretch the dough prior to proffing it without tearing it gives you the bigger holes. At this point i have cut into only one loaf, but am curious to see what the other loaves look like hole wise.

3. You can in fact sprinkle too much flower on the loaves before going into the oven.

4. I didn't quite do the "letter-style fold" correctly, but at the end of the day I don't think it makes too big other than the shape of your loaf.

And here are the pictures:

This is after the I mixed the poolish with all the other ingredients. Then put on counter to stretch and then rise for a bit:



After the initial rise and proofing, ready to go into the oven:


First batch in the oven:


First batch right out of the oven:




Final loaf after cooking:



First cut:







My week of bread:

jpeac2 wrote:I had some difficulties getting my poolish to become bubbley and foamy in three hours, ended up letting it sit overnight and this morning it was about right. Don't know if it is bad to let it work all night and not be refrigerated. Any thoughts here?

No problems at all with your time frame. I think I've seen 4 to 8 hours as a guideline, but I think it can go much higher, but you are supposed to keep your temp down. Similar to a poolish is a biga, a sponge, or levain, and some of these sit for a day or more, depending on recipe and temperature.

The NY Times artisan bread recipe that floated through here a month or so ago is an example of bread that sits for 18 hours on the counter - no refrigeration. I make this quite freqently (well, my gluten-free version), and it is wonderful. The longer it sits, the more the dough ferments and develops a slight sourdough flavor.

You are right about it being time-consuming. I like to think of it as time-expanding. I never know how long I potter in the kitchen on breads and the like. It just is. Time well spent.

I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I used to. Even now, when I can only make gluten-free breads (the process is quite different), I enjoy it tremendously.