Ciabatta - the long game
This is a 76% hydration ciabatta modeled on that of Scott McGee [1]. Unusual in the low hydration and that he shapes these.
Dinner the other evening with friends for “Sunday macaroni and gravy”, which may be an Americanism for pasta with tomato sauce. Also includes sausages, meatballs and ribs, all cooked in the “gravy”. I hadn’t made a ciabatta in a while, so it was off to the races as part of our contribution to dinner.
Today I’m once again seeing our visiting-the-U.S. London TFL compatriot Abe (in olden days "Lechem" and even older "A BakEr"). So I thought that I’d bake him one too. But I wanted to bake something bigger. Bumped up from 500g to 750g each, they are pretty easy to make, The biga was made the evening before and then warehoused in the refrigerator until mix time. I’ve tried the Jason Molina Cocodrillo ciabatta quite a while back, and although it is a cinch to make, the flavor is lacking, so I ditched the effort and formula after two consecutive trials.
These were stretched out long enough that I had to load the baking deck sideways instead of head in. 13 minutes with steam, 16 minutes after, and 3 minutes of venting. These could have gone a few minutes more.
If you are a fan of the super open ciabatta crumb that mice and small children can fall through, this isn’t the formula for you. But it is a ciabatta in every way, with modest open crumb, thin crisp crust, and a light as a feather crumb. And makes fabulous toast.
And as toast:
Ciabatta w/Biga @76% Hydration | |||||||||
Scott MeGee, alfanso | |||||||||
500g will yield 3" diameter loaves - small | |||||||||
Total Flour | |||||||||
Total Dough Weight (g) | 1500 | Prefermented | 40.00% | ||||||
Total Formula | Biga | Final Dough | |||||||
Ingredients | % | Grams | % | Grams | Ingredients | Grams | |||
Total Flour | 100.00% | 825.5 | 100.00% | Final Flour | 495.3 | ||||
Bread Flour | 100.00% | 825.5 | 100% | 330.2 | Bread Flour | 495.3 | |||
Water (cold in final dough) | 76.00% | 627.4 | 66% | 217.9 | Water cold | 327.6 | |||
bassinage | 81.9 | ||||||||
Olive Oil | 3.00% | 24.8 | Olive Oil | 24.8 | |||||
Salt | 2.10% | 17.3 | Salt | 17.3 | |||||
IDY | 0.60% | 5.0 | 0.14% | 0.46 | IDY | 4.5 | |||
Biga cold | 548.6 | ||||||||
Totals | 181.70% | 1500 | 166.14% | 548.62 | 1500 | ||||
KA mixer: "1", “2” & "6" to incorporate, 2nd hydration @ "4"to add, “6” to mix, “8” to finish. | |||||||||
In mixer: IDY into COLD water, COLD biga, flour. MIX ON "1" until water is taken up, then "2" until shaggy. Pinch and fold. | |||||||||
Remove dough from mixer, ~50 FFs, 5 min rest, 50 FFs. | |||||||||
Back to mixer: bassinage of COLD water, salt and olive oil ADD VERY SLOWLY - MIXER ON"4" THEN "6" & "8" to finish. | |||||||||
Mix done with slapping sound, pulling off bowl onto hook, then dropping back to bowl again. | |||||||||
bulk proof - 2 hr., 3 folds - 0, 40, 80 | |||||||||
scale at 500g, no pre-shape, couche seam side up | |||||||||
40 min final proof | |||||||||
Roll and stretch dough as it goes to baking peel | |||||||||
Preheat @480dF | |||||||||
Bake w/ steam @460dF, ~13 min, another ~15 min, then vent |