Bread Day - Ciabatta

CIABATTA
Origins: It comes from beautiful Italia, though there is much dispute where in Italy it truly was born. When translated its name means slipper, referring to its shape described as somewhat elongated, broad and flattish and, like a slipper.
Characteristics: The crust is crisp and strong, surrounding a soft, porous inside.
Difficulty: Med - Hard.
I just read that this is a bad bread to start out with for beginners. Oops. I guess we'll see how we do.
Time: Day 1, 2-4 hours (poolish/biga)
Day 2, 1hr de-chill poolish/biga; 10-15min mixing; 3-4hrs fermenting, shaping & proofing: 20-30min baking.

I'm using a recipe from "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" to make the Ciabatta. This book has two versions of the recipe, one made with Poolish and one made with Biga. Both of these are fermented dough, just done a little differently. I'm going to start with the Poolish version.

DAY 1 - Monday

POOLISH - normal recipe
2 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
1 1/2 cups water, room temp
1/4 tsp instant yeast

Mix all ingredients thoroughly until there is no dry flour left. The texture or the dough should be like super thick pancake batter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 3-4 hrs or until the sponge becomes bubbly and foamy. Refrigerated. It will keep for up to 3 days.
Note: The recipe for the ciabatta requires 3 1/4 cups of the poolish, so I added another cup of flour and matched it with enough water to make it the right texture, about 3/4 cup.Also, since I'm using Active Dry Yeast, witch isn't as aggressive as Instant, I used a total of about 2 tsp. We'll see how this goes.

DAY 2 - Tuesday

Right now my bread is in the oven with 3 minutes to go. WOOHOOOO!

I started by taking out the poolish from the day before and letting it sit for an hour to take off the chill. In another bowl mix:
3 cups of flour
1 3/4tsp salt
1 1/2tsp of yeast.
Add the 3 1/4cups of poolish and mix it all together adding 6Tbsp of water. Make sure everything is mixed thoroughly.

Dipping your hand in cold water every once in a while, scoop under the dough and lift it up, stretching it and pressing back down on the other side all the while rotating the bowl with the other hand mimicking a bread hook. Switch the direction a couple times. Continue kneading until 7 minutes is up.

Turn out onto a floured surface and pat it into a square about 8" x 8". Take a hole of the left corners, stretch out and up to fold over about 3/4 of the way over, do the same with the other corners. Spray with water or oil, dust with flour and cover with saran wrap. Let sit for 30 minutes

Fold, spray, flour and cover again. Let sit for 1 1/2 - 2hrs. Trying as much as possible to not degas the dough, cut it into 2 or 3 equal pieces. Place on a liberally floured towel and fold into rectangle shapes 6" long. Bunch up the towel to make walls in between the lumps. Flour liberally and cover with a towel. Let rest for 45-60 minutes.

Preheat over to 500 and place a heavy duty pan or cast iron skillet on the top rack in the oven.

Turn dough over onto a pan dusted with corn meal. Place in oven. Pour 1 cup of hot water into skillet. Close oven. Spray oven with water 3 times in 30 second intervals. This simulates the steam injection bread oven. After the last spray turn heat down to 450 and cook for 10 minutes. Rotate and bake another 10 minutes or until done. Inside temperature of bread should be 205.

My results
Crust, kinda crispy. Inside, spongy. Tastes good. It has a taste unlike the breads I normally make, which in the bread world are on the sweeter side. Though it took a good chunk of time, this is a bread I truly love. I can't wait to try it again and make it better.

With bread,
~Chad