'Crust and Crumb' ciabatta recipe
someone may have discussed this recipe elsewhere but i could only find posts about the bread baker's apprentice version. i just picked up reinhart's 'crust and crumb' book the other day and i'm getting ready to try the ciabatta recipe for the first time (pre-ferment's in the fridge). however i noticed that at the start of the recipe it states that it makes four loaves while in the instructions he says to divide the dough into three pieces. does anyone have experience with this recipe and know how many loaves it's better suited for? i suppose i could just adjust baking times as i go but i thought someone might have an opinion. and while i'm asking does anyone know how the crust and crumb recipe stacks up against the one in the bread baker's apprentice?
-tre
I have never made the C & C recipe, and it's been a long time since I made the BBA recipe, having discovered Jason's Quick Coccodrillo recipe. My wife loves it (as do I and many others who have tried it) so I have kind of stopped trying new things in the ciabatta department, but ....
As to the number of loaves that a recipe makes I think that it depends on how large a loaf you want (maybe you want smaller ones for a dinner for two) or by the limitations of your baking environment ( I would run into problems with baguettes that are too long for my oven if I followed some recipes that call for 14 ounces of dough, for example). If you want to save some energy, and can get away with baking three loaves at once, and you'd have to do two bakes for four loaves, then I'd do three, all else being equal. That's my opinion, what say others?