Ciabatta

Recipe adapted from Brian Lagerstrom.

Ingredients:

Biga

• 175 g. or 3/4 c. warm water (86F)
• 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
• 225 g. or 1 1/2 c. AP flour (11.7% protein)

Autolyse

• 180 g. or 3/4 c. warm water (86F)
• 250 g. or 2 c. AP flour (11.7% protein)

Final Mix:

• 40 g. or 2 3/4 TBSP warm water (86F)
• 5 g. or 2 tsp. instant yeast
• 10 g. 1 3/4 tsp. salt
• All of the biga you mixed earlier

Directions:

1. Biga: Add water, yeast, and flour into a high sided container and mix until no dry clumps of flour remains. Let ferment at room temp for 6-24 hours.
2. Autolyse: Into bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix your autolyse (water and flour) on low until combined. Cover with towel and let sit for 30 minutes.
3. Final Mix: For your final mix, add warm water, yeast, salt, and biga to your autolyse and mix on low for 3 minutes. Increase speed to high and mix for 5 more minutes. When dough is mixed enough it should clear the bowl and begin to get shiny.
4. Fermenting and Shaping: Transfer dough to an oiled bowl. Cover and ferment at room temperature for 30 min. Do strength building folds #1 and then hand cup the dough a few times (mimicking an electric mixer kneading motion). Cover again and let sit at room temp for another 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes perform strength building folds #2; then cover and allow to ferment at room temp for 1 hour. Dough should be gassy and alive at this point.
5. Liberally flour work surface and dough well. Use dough card to release dough from bowl as completely as possible before transferring dough to work surface. Gently pat into a square slab. Prepare a piece of parchment that’s larger than your slab of ciabatta dough by liberally flouring it. Cut dough into two equal rectangles and gently transfer to floured parchment. Cover and proof at room temp for 30 min.
6. Baking: Place baking stone/steel in the middle of the oven and place a cast iron or other pan in the rack below the stone/steel and preheat oven to 500F.  Boil water in a saucepan or tea kettle ready for when you place the ciabatta in the oven. Slide ciabatta onto baking stone/steel (with parchment paper) and pour boiling water into cast iron pan in the oven.
7. Cover loaves with a foil pan (approx. 16”x12”x3”) and bake for 12 min. Remove foil and continue to bake for 13-15 minutes until crust is a deep golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Ciabatta: