The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Ciabatta Final Strech

tothpianopeter's picture
tothpianopeter

Ciabatta Final Strech

So, I have been baking lots of ciabattas lately. I have noticed that many ciabatta formulas call for a final strech just before loading them into the oven. The baker grabs both ends of the loaf and gently pulls them in opposite directions, thus stretching the dough out a little bit to make it slightly longer and slimmer. I have never dared to try this technique as I always thought it could damage the interior structure of the dough. When I load my ciabattas in the oven, they are usually quite bubbly and fragile already.

So, the question for discussion: What are the benefits of the final strech often found in ciabatta formulas? Does it affect the crumb structure? 

Peter 

mariana's picture
mariana

Peter, it is done to make ciabatta less tall and uneven and to even out the size of its pores. Basically, it is similar to stretching out and docking pizza dough to avoid giant bubbles here and there. The same is done with dough when you make fried bread - stretch it out, sometimes doubling its length and only then lower it into hot oil to fry. Otherwise, the holes inside its crumb would be too huge and vary wildly in size. 

I've seen your recent ciabatta in your blog entry and noticed that you knead and develop dough by hand, so there is no risk for you to have those huge bubbles and super large holes in bread. You don't have to stretch it out. Your ciabatta looks good as is. 

tothpianopeter's picture
tothpianopeter

Thank you Mariana. Your explanations make complete sense to me. So it is done in order to redistribute the bubbles more evenly and to avoid too much upward rise in the oven. Would you say that streching has a similar impact on ciabatta dough as when lightly dimpling it with fingertips just before loading it in the oven? I sometimes do that with my ciabatta, but usually before final proof.

Peter

mariana's picture
mariana

Yes, you got it right!

I would say stretch if ciabatta and stretch&dimple if pizza Romana or focaccia, Peter.

These are different breads and ciabatta, generally speaking, is roundish and fairly tall, meant to be sliced vertically as regular baguette or French loaf, so finger dimpling (docking) is not as appropriate.

The meaning of both techniques is the same - bring layers of gluten together to link them here and there, of course.

tothpianopeter's picture
tothpianopeter

Thank you again. I have always thought that ciabattas were supposed to be rather flat than tall, resembling the shape of slippers, therefore sliced horizontally. So, I thought docking was also appropriate because that makes the ciabatta more flat. There is a YouTube video of the great Italian master Giorilli as he is docking his ciabatta and slices it horizontally. 

On the other hand, I have seen many ciabattas that were taller and slimmer, looking almost like a baguette, sliced vertically. Those also look great. I think it all comes down to the fact that there are many different approaches, and they are all valid. 

Peter 

alfanso's picture
alfanso

"it all comes down to the fact that there are many different approaches, and they are all valid."

There are 50 ways to do it right, and 200 ways to do it wrong.  Whatever "it" is.  Before I started baking ciabatta with the Scott MeGee method I was stretching the ciabatta dough as it was divided.  Now I don't.  I find that the MeGee method gives me a more consistent barrel shape to the final product than before. 

One advantage to gently turning the dough over at some point after BF is that it will help distribute the gases within by virtue of soft manipulation and its own weight.

Sr. Giorilli displays his own method in the video.  Although he is a master baker, his personal method in no more right nor wrong than the next master baker's method.

 I've never docked ciabatta dough before - nor do I have any intention to do so at the point - I've found my own personal "ciabatta home".  Experiment and find out where you personal "ciabatta home" is.

tothpianopeter's picture
tothpianopeter

I inserted the video sample to simply show that ciabatta can be docked and sliced horizontally, but this by no means the only way. As Mariana also pointed out, they can be taller loaves, in that case vertical slicing is appropriate. There are many ways, indeed.

I have seen the Scott MeGee video. I might try his shaping style one day. I haven't dared to do it yet because my dough after bulk fermentation is usually quite delicate, and I am afraid that with too much manipulation I would destroy the structure. What I have been doing lately is only folding the dough onto itself after bulk fermentation. In the Scott MeGee video the dough looks so much stiffer than a typical ciabatta dough, so I am sure that with that particular dough the shaping works perfectly. It also works perfectly for you as your ciabattas always look great. Maybe one day I will try the MeGee-style shaping!

Peter  

alfanso's picture
alfanso

There is no way that I can figure out how his ciabatta dough has that stiff consistency - almost like a huge stiff pillow for a couch.  Mine is of the delicate much wetter and significantly less stiff variety.  However his shaping method works fine for me, even with that huge delta in dough consistency between his and mine.

tothpianopeter's picture
tothpianopeter

According to his formula, it's 76% water and 3% olive oil, that's about 79% hydration if we take the oil into account. His dough certainly looks a lot stiffer than that. Maybe the flour? He uses Bilby flour which I have no experience with. Also, I have noticed that he doesn't use preferment, it's a straight dough with a relatively short fermentation time. Since there is no preferment and no long fermentation, there is no weakened flour. Maybe that's why it looks stiffer? It's only my guess, though.