Ciabatta

Compared Maggie Glezer's ciabatta http://articles.latimes.com/2005/sep/21/food/fo-bread21 vs. Jason's ciabatta http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2984/jasons-quick-coccodrillo-ciabatta-bread.

MAggie's ciabatta:I made the biga 3 days earlier but I can only assumed it developed the flavour so much more. The dough came together really easily. "Gloopiness" in 10 minutes and the gluten was well developed. It was really easy to handle despite being gloopy.

Jason:

Even after 30 minutes of beating, the dough did not come together and remained like pancake batter. Epic failed. I'm ashamed to say that I cheated after 30 minutes and tossed in some flour, and continued beating it for about 10 more minutes. The dough came together then and formed a nice gloopy mess.

I split the dough into two for both as I wanted to make a fruit and nut version and a regular version.

Here are pics of the fruit and nut version. Maggie's dough had a lot more rise, it had a better flavour. But since I cheated for Jason's recipe..maybe it wasn't a fair test :)

Maggie's apricot, raisins and hazelnut ciabatta

Jason's almond and fig ciabatta