Whole Wheat Ciabatta Recipe 425

CHEF JOHN'S WHOLE WHEAT CIABATTA

Steps:

• Stir 1 cup warm water, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup rye flour, and yeast together in a large bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit until the sponge bubbles and doubles in volume, 5 to 6 hours.
• Stir 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 water, sunflower seeds, polenta, flax seeds, salt, and honey into sponge with a wooden spoon until a very sticky dough ball forms, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the the sides of the bowl, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and let dough rise until doubled in volume, 10 hours to overnight.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dust parchment paper with 1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour and cornmeal.
• Scrape dough out of bowl onto a lightly floured work surface, press down to remove air, and form into a smooth oval loaf. Place dough on the prepared baking sheet. Dust top of loaf lightly with flour, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Place a baking dish filled with water on the bottom rack of the oven.
• Remove plastic wrap from risen dough and mist the top of the dough with water.
• Bake loaf in the preheated oven, misting the top of the loaf with water every 8 to 10 minutes, until loaf is golden and sounds hollow when tapped, 30 to 35 minutes total. Transfer bread to a cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing.

WHOLE WHEAT CIABATTA RECIPE - (4.2/5)

Steps:

• In a large bowl, sift together flours, salt, and yeast. Add two cups water and mix to combine, switching to kneading when it becomes too difficult to stir. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, this is the time to bust it out and put it to work. If you are kneading by hand, keep at it, but try to avoid adding more flour to the dough as you knead - ciabatta is supposed to have a wet dough. Knead for five minutes, or until dough is smooth but still sticky. Let dough rest, then add olive oil and knead for another minute. Add flour only if it is really too wet, ie: more of a batter than a dough. Place dough in bowl and cover in plastic wrap. Store in fridge for at least 12 hours and up to three days. About two hours before planning to serve ciabatta, remove dough from fridge. Being sure not to degas the dough, remove dough from bowl and divide into two or three pieces. (I divided mine into thirds and made four burger buns with the third piece.) Gently form each piece into a rectangle and fold into thirds. Roll each piece in flour gently and then place seam side down on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, position oven racks in the middle and very top of the oven, place a rimmed baking sheet (a "steam pan") in the top rack, and preheat oven to 500. After dough has risen, place in oven on middle rack and carefully pour one cup of boiling water in the preheated rimmed steam pan on the top rack. This creates steam, which equals a crisper crust and more delicious bread. Turn oven temperature down to 450 and bake for 20 minutes. My loaves were done at this point, but depending on your oven and other variables you might need a bit more time. Bake until bread sounds hollow when thumped and an instant-read thermometer (a $5 gadget that makes baking so much easier) registers 200 degrees when placed in the center.

SPROUTED WHEAT SOURDOUGH CIABATTA

Steps:

• MIXING AND BULK FERMENTATION
• Combine all the ingredients in a stand mixer with dough hook attachment. Mix on low speed about a minute until combined and then scrape down the sides. Then mix on medium-low speed for about 5 minutes and then transfer the dough to a clean bowl. Alternately or additionally, mix in a bowl with a stiff spatula and then with the Rubaud Method for 2-10 minutes (the longer time is if you take breaks). After mixing, note the time and room temperature if you like to track fermentation this way.
• Cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
• Do three gentle stretch and folds, spaced 25-45 minutes apart. Use damp fingertips or a dough scraper to pull the dough from the sides of the bowl and fold it over (four sides, twice around). Cover after each stretch and fold.
• Let ferment until bubbly and roughly doubled. This was a little over 4 hours from mixing in summer house temps (75-78F).
• SHAPING
• Flour your countertop, then scrape the dough out of the bowl.
• Flour your hands and gently slide your fingers under the dough from all sides to pull it outward into a square shape about 1/2 an inch thick. Do not flour the surface of the dough as this will be the interior of your slippers.
• Using a bench scraper, fold the rectangle of dough in half on itself. Then cut the dough in pieces. I went with five small slippers, almost like large rolls. Of note I did not do a bench rest and reshape. It was about 10 minutes from bowl to couche.
• Using a bench scraper and your free hand, transfer the slippers to the channels of a heavily floured couche or tea towel. The slippers will scrunch up a bit as you gather them, but you can adjust and stretch them out again as you lay them in the couche.
• Loosely cover the slippers with the couche itself or with another tea towel.
• PROOFING AND OVEN PREP
• Let the slippers proof for about 30 minutes at warm room temperatures, longer in cool temps.
• If you have a baking stone or steel, put it in the oven. You can also cook the slippers on a metal cookie sheet. (Do not use a dark non-stick surface because of the high oven temperature.)
• Prepare to create steam early in the baking process. You can put a cast iron pan on the shelf under the baking stone. Or you can create a drip system by putting an aluminum pan with a pinhole in the oven under the stone, and a metal cookie sheet on the base of the oven. When making the pinhole, test over your sink that water drips through it about 1-2 drops a second. My heating element is exposed on the bottom of my oven, so the aluminum pan drips onto the bottom of the oven rather than a cookie sheet, which works fine too. (See gallery for photo of setup.)
• Preheat your oven and stone to 500 F for 30 minutes as the dough proofs. If you are baking on a cookie sheet, a 15 minute preheat should be enough.
• BAKING
• When proofing is complete, flip the slippers onto pieces of parchment paper, and slide the slippers onto your preheated stone. You can use a pizza peel or a cold upside down cookie sheet to transfer the slippers.
• Immediately pour a cup of water onto the aluminum tray or cast iron pan that is under your stone, and quickly close the oven door to trap the steam.
• Bake at 500 F for 10 minutes. Then remove the parchment paper and rotate the slippers 180 degrees if your oven seems to brown unevenly.
• Bake an additional 5-10 minutes at 450 F.
• After baking, turn off the oven, crack open the door a couple of inches, and leave the slippers in the oven for another 5 minutes. This will make the crust crunchier.
• Internal temperature should be about 205 F.
• Let cool on a rack for about one hour before slicing.

CIABATTA

Steps:

• Make biga:
• Place water in processor. Sprinkle yeast over. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 8 minutes. Add 1 cup flour; process until blended. Scrape down sides of work bowl. Add 1 cup flour; repeat processing and scraping. Add remaining 1 1/3 cups flour. Process until small moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball (dough will be firm); place in large bowl. Cover; chill overnight (biga will soften, resembling thick oatmeal in texture).
• Make dough:
• Pull biga into walnut-size pieces; place in a clean large bowl. Add water, yeast and 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons semolina. Using 1 hand, squeeze ingredients together 2 minutes. Work dough 4 minutes by scooping sections from sides of bowl and pressing into center, blending into very soft, shaggy mass. Using spatula, scrape dough from sides of bowl into center. Let dough rest in bowl, uncovered, 10 minutes.
• Sprinkle salt over dough. Using 1 hand, knead dough by rotating bowl 1/4 turn at a time, scooping dough from sides and folding down into center until dough starts to come away from sides of bowl, about 5 minutes. Scrape dough from hand and sides of bowl. Cover bowl with towel; let dough rest 20 minutes.
• Rotating bowl 1/4 turn at a time, fold dough over onto itself 6 times; turn dough over in bowl. Cover with towel and let dough rest in bowl 20 minutes.
• Bake bread:
• Preheat oven to 425°F. Sprinkle work surface with additional semolina. Turn dough out onto semolina. Using pastry scraper or large knife, cut dough in half; keep halves separated. Let stand, uncovered, 20 minutes.
• Sprinkle 2 large baking sheets with additional semolina. Transfer each dough half, semolina side up, to 1 sheet. Stretch each dough half to 16x4-inch rectangle. Press fingertips into dough in several places to dimple surface (characteristic of this bread). Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool. (Can be prepared 2 weeks ahead. Double-wrap in aluminum foil to freeze.)

WHOLE WHEAT CIABATTA BREAD ROLLS OR LOAVES

Steps:

• Weigh out dry ingredients in your mixing bowl.
• And water.
• Mix with a dough hook until a smooth, elastic dough ball is formed, about 5 minutes.
• Turn the dough out onto a greased countertop (olive oil or Pam Spray works well).
• Knead into a ball (1 minute) and place into a dough riser lightly coated with oil. Spray top of dough with oil, cover and let rise for 2 hours or until doubled in size*.
• Preheat oven with two pizza stones (one per shelf) to 450°F Be sure that the stones and a cookie sheet (bottom shelf) are in the oven when you start pre-heating it.
• Turn bread dough out onto a lightly floured countertop and divide into four pieces. You can make four large long ciabatta type loaves at this point or you can continue on and divide each dough ball into 8 pieces for rolls (see below).
• Using a bench knife or scraper, gently form the dough into four long flat loaves. Try not to work the dough to much. If you would like to make ciabatta type sandwich rolls, divide each long loaf into 6-8 short segments using your bench knife.
• Place loaves or rolls on 2 sheets of parchment paper that are roughly the same size as your pizza stones (2 loaves/sheet; 12-16 rolls/sheet).
• Cover** and let rise for 45 minutes.
• After rising, sprinkle the loaves with flour and slash the tops (I do not slash the rolls). ***.
• Place the rolls/loaves in the oven using a pizza peel.**** At the same time, put a cup of ice into the cookie sheet to humidify your oven.
• Bake at 425F for 30-35 minutes. If your oven has a convection bake setting, switch to convection for the last 10 minute of baking.
• Cool on wire racks and enjoy!
• *If you are not ready to form the rolls/loaves after the first rise, you can punch the dough down and let it rise again until doubled in size. **I use a plastic storage container that is designed to store things under my bed. It is the perfect size and keeps my dough safe from cats, dogs and other critters. ***A sharp serrated knife works well. ****An inverted cookie tray works in a pinch.
• Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-crusty-bread-rolls-447320#ixzz1dmJ4t9Av.

WHOLE-GRAIN CIABATTA BREAD(OR ROLLS)

Steps:

• In large bowl, combine water and yeast; stir and let stand for 10 minutes. When yeast is bubbly, add milk, olive oil, whole-wheat flour, oat bran, ½ cup bread flour, and salt and beat for 2 minutes. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Add enough remaining bread flour to make a soft dough; beat for 1 minute. Cover bowl and let rise for 1 hour.
• Remove dough to lightly floured surface (dough will be soft and sticky). Grease two 4″ × 10″ shapes on a large cookie sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Divide dough in half and shape into two 3″ × 9″ rectangles on the greased areas of the cookie sheet. Let rise for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400ºF. Place a 9″ pan filled with ½″ of water on bottom rack. Bake bread on middle rack for 20-30 minutes or until loaves are light golden brown and sound hollow when tapped with fingers. Cool on wire rack.
• Yields 2 loaves; 8 servings.
• For Rolls:.
• 2 tablespoons olive oil.
• 3 tablespoons cornmeal.
• Prepare Whole Wheat Ciabatta Bread through the first rising. Punch down dough and turn onto lightly floured surface.
• Divide dough into 6 portions. Using floured fingers, shape each portion into a 3″ × 3″ rectangle.
• Grease six 4″ × 4″ squares on a cookie sheet with olive oil and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place dough onto each cornmeal coated square. Drizzle with remaining olive oil.
• Let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
• Bake rolls for 10-15 minutes or until very light brown. Turn off oven and prop open oven door. Let rolls stand in oven for another 5 minutes. Then remove from oven and let cool on wire racks.
• Yields 6 rolls.
• Note:.
• Creating Steam When Baking Bread.
• Adding steam to the oven when baking bread makes a crisper, thicker crust. There are several ways to do this. You can place a pan with some water in it on the rack below the bread. You can also spritz the loaves with water a few times while the bread is baking. The steam helps keep the bread softer longer, so the crust develops more slowly.

WHOLE GRAIN SPELT SOURDOUGH CIABATTA

Steps:

• Note: This recipe is for one large slipper. The photo gallery below shows two versions of the recipe being made at once, hence two slippers. If you want two (or three smaller) slippers, double the recipe ingredients.
• Sourdough Starter
• Build a 100% or higher hydration sourdough starter over a couple of days until it is more than 275g in weight, about 2 1/4 cups volume, active and floating.
• There are numerous, equally effective ways to get this amount of active starter. I fed my starter and refrigerated it at about 1 cup in volume. On baking day, I put 110g of starter in a large bowl, fed it 75g of all-purpose flour and 90g of water. In volume, this is approximately 1/2 cup starter, 1/2 cup flour and 3/8 cup of water. Several hours later, it was over 2 cups in volume and it floated.
• Autolyse
• At about the same time you do the last feeding of your starter, combine the whole grain spelt flour and water in a large bowl and cover. This will help build the gluten structure and enhance the flavor. If the dough seems too dry to incorporate all the flour, pause for a few minutes, mix again. Add 10g more water if there is still any dry flour.
• Mixing
• When the starter is ready (for me this is about 4 hours after feeding), add it, the olive oil, and the salt to the autloysed dough. Mix by hand until incorporated and continue to develop the gluten for about 2 minutes or until the dough passes the windowpane test. Use one hand to turn the bowl and the other hand to scrape, scoop, and pull the dough around the bowl. Because of the autolyse, this mixing takes less time than what I recommend in the white flour ciabatta recipe.
• Here is a video of mixing the dough with the all purpose starter from beginning to end in under 2 minutes, and here is a video of the last 30 seconds of mixing the dough with the whole grain spelt starter. Both videos show the windowpane test.
• After mixing, mark the time and room temperature if you like to track fermentation this way.
• Bulk Fermentation / Stretching and Folding
• Cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
• Do three gentle stretch and folds, spaced 25-30 minutes apart. Use damp fingertips to pull the dough from the sides of the bowl and fold it over (four sides, twice around). Cover after each stretch and fold.
• Let ferment until puffy and roughly doubled. This was about 3 hours from mixing at 74F for me.
• Shaping and Proofing
• Heavily flour your countertop, then scrape or pull the dough out of the bowl onto it.
• Flour your hands repeatedly and gently slide your fingers under the dough from all sides to pull it outward into a square shape about 1/2 an inch thick. Both versions of this dough are more delicate than white flour ciabatta dough, so work slowly until you get a feel for it.
• Using a bench scraper, fold the dough in half. Brush off the extra flour on the top, then fold it in thirds (see gallery below). Let the dough rest about 20 minutes.
• Prepare a piece of parchment paper, on a floured couche or tea towel, on a small flipped over cookie sheet. The couche/towel should be floured in case it touches the top of the slipper when you cover the slipper. The cookie sheet is under the towel to be a flat surface if you want to proof in the refrigerator.
• Fold the preshaped dough in half as it will have spread while resting. Consider a second fold for the all whole grain dough which spreads more.
• Using a bench scraper, transfer the slipper to the parchment paper.
• Dust the top of the slipper with more flour, and loosely cover it with the tea towel or couche.
• Let it proof for 30 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature, or 1+ hour in the refrigerator.
• Oven Prep and Baking
• If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven. You can also cook the slippers on a metal cookie sheet or upside down cast iron pan. (Do not use a dark non-stick surface because of the high oven temperature.)
• Prepare to create steam early in the baking process. You can put a cast iron pan on the shelf under the baking stone. Or you can create a drip system by putting an aluminum pan with a pinhole in the oven under the stone, and a metal cookie sheet on the base of the oven. When making the pinhole, test over your sink that water drips through it about 1-2 drops a second. This system was devised by Breadtopia community member @peevee. My heating element is exposed on the bottom of my oven, so the aluminum pan drips onto the bottom of the oven rather than a cookie sheet, which works fine too. (See gallery for photo of setup.)
• Preheat your oven and stone to 500 F for 30 minutes before the dough finishes proofing. If you are baking on a cookie sheet, a 15 minute preheat should be enough.
• When proofing is complete, remove the tea towel from under the parchment paper and slipper, and slide the parchment paper and slipper onto your preheated stone. You can use a pizza peel or the same upside down cookie sheet to transfer the paper and slipper.
• Immediately pour a cup of water onto the aluminum tray or cast iron pan that is under your stone, and quickly close the oven door to trap the steam.
• Bake at 500 F for 10 minutes. Then remove the parchment paper and rotate the slippers 180 degrees if your oven seems to brown unevenly.
• Bake an additional 8-10 minutes at 450 F.
• Important After baking, turn off the oven, crack open the door a couple of inches, and leave the slippers in the oven for another 5 minutes. This will make the crust crunchier.
• If you make rolls or larger slippers, adjust your cooking time accordingly. Internal temperature should be about 205 F.
• Let cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.
• For most purposes (olive oil and tomatoes, butter and blue cheese, BBQ pulled meat), I like to slice a slipper horizontally and then into roll-size pieces 3-4 inches wide.

CHEF JOHN'S NO-KNEAD CIABATTA

Steps:

• Place white and wheat flour in a large bowl. Add salt, yeast, and water. Mix until a wet sticky dough comes together, about 5 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Cover with foil. Allow dough to rise for 18 hours at room temperature. It should not be too warm.
• Punch dough down with a spatula and fold it over a few times.
• Lightly grease a heavy-rimmed baking sheet with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with cornmeal.
• Lightly spray a work surface with water. Place a long sheet of plastic wrap on the damp surface to hold it in place. Sprinkle plastic wrap with flour. Scrape the dough onto the floured surface. Sprinkle flour on top of the dough. Gently stretch and pull dough into a long, flat rectangular shape, 12 to 15 inches long. Bring plastic sheet to edge of prepared pan and flip the dough into the prepared pan. Reshape the dough, if necessary. Dust with flour. Cover with a light dry towel. Let rise about 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Bake dough in preheated oven until loaf is nicely browned, 35 to 45 minutes.