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Susie said in July 26th, 2009 at 6:04 am

Your loaves look great. I also loved the taste of this bread and didn’t get big holes but the taste is what matters.
I’ve heard many things about not getting the holes from not enough water in the dough, not handling the dough gently to not using high gluten flour.
You did a wonderful job,
Susie

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Madam Chow said in July 26th, 2009 at 10:05 am

Thank you, Susie!

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Natashya said in July 26th, 2009 at 2:35 pm

Looks great! I agree with you and Susie, this dough needed more water than PR stated, and gentle is good with wet doughs. 🙂

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Madam Chow said in July 26th, 2009 at 3:06 pm

I think I was pretty gentle, and I had to add a LOT more water. My dough still didn’t look as “wet” as PR’s, though, so I’ll keep that in mind.

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Leslie said in July 26th, 2009 at 6:58 pm

I think yours looks fantastic! My poolish is in the fridge but I’m a little scared of this one. You make it sound so easy that my poolish is coming out and I’m going to do it!

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Wendy said in July 27th, 2009 at 2:28 pm

Your ciabatta looks great. It’s the water content. You need lots of steam for holes.

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Madam Chow said in July 27th, 2009 at 4:42 pm

Whoah! Thank you, Wendy! I should have added even MORE water!

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Susan/Wild Yeast said in July 29th, 2009 at 5:01 pm

I get better holes with a shaping method that is really just cutting rectangles from a large rectangle of fermented dough — no folding of the loaves.
Here’s a video on how I do it if you’re interested:
http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2009/03/09/shaping-ciabatta-video/

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Madam Chow said in July 29th, 2009 at 5:15 pm

Thanks, Susan!

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YeastSpotting July 31, 2009 | Wild Yeast said in July 31st, 2009 at 3:02 am

[…] Ciabatta […]

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Mary said in July 31st, 2009 at 10:36 am

Your ciabatta looks terrific. I was always told that you need steam to make holes and you can’t get without enough water.

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Mimi said in July 31st, 2009 at 12:02 pm

The crust looks fabulous. Sorry about the holes. It looks really tasty.

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Madam Chow said in July 31st, 2009 at 12:07 pm

Mimi – I did use steam in the oven. Anal bread baker that I am, I WILL be making this again until I get the holes!

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Laura said in July 31st, 2009 at 12:46 pm

Well, it looks great . . . As for the holes, I saw on the fresh loaf that some people have had problems getting holes with the PR bread from BBA. I was going to try Jason’s quick ciabatta (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2984/jasons-quick-coccodrillo-ciabatta-bread). See also here:http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/12994/best-ciabatta-recipe. I was also intrigued by the ciabatta recipe on breadcetera (http://www.breadcetera.com/?p=162).

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Laura said in July 31st, 2009 at 12:49 pm

sorry, something goes wrong when I try to post.

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Di said in August 1st, 2009 at 12:17 pm

Looks like a great first attempt. I’m tackling this one this weekend. I’ve tried once before to make ciabatta, and failed miserably. But that was a long time ago, and I know a lot more about bread baking (and have had a lot more practice!) now. Keeping my fingers crossed for holes… =)

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