From There to Now: Ciabatta(ish) bread

Today was one of those days where it felt like all Hell broke loose in my kitchen... Now that I got it back under control it is time to share with you my current to go bread recipe. I usually work in cycles with food, in particular bread. A few months ago I would make an oat and honey whole wheat loaf that would last me a week for lunch but then I moved, quit my job and lost interest in it, don't worry it will come back and when it does I will for sure share it with you. The recipe I am sharing here is a ciabatta roll recipe that was inspired by this book but I had to modify it quite a bit for it to come together.

I have to warn you that it having a stand mixer made my life so much easier when it comes to home made bread, I actually waited until I had it to make some. This specific recipe requires a few specific tools, stand mixer, pizza stone and spray bottle.

Ciabatta bread

Ingredients:
Sponge

- 1c warm water (160F)

- 1 tsp active dry yeast

- 1 1/2 c flour

Bread

- 1 c warm water (160F)

- 5 tbsp warm milk (160F)

- 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

- 2 tsp salt

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 5 c AP flour

Instructions

- Make the sponge in the bowl of your stand mixer: dilute the yeast in warm water (be careful not to kill it with water that is too hot, if you want to check if your yeast is alive you can let it sit for 10 minutes and it should bloom, otherwise just keep and eye on your sponge), add the flour and mix with spoon until combined. Cover with a towel and let rest for 12h.

Sponge after resting

Sponge before resting

- Gently mix the yeast in the water and milk. Equip the dough hook, add the water mixture, salt and olive oil to the sponge and mix slowly. Add 4c of flour, 1c at a time. Be careful when mixing, you might want to cover your bowl with a kitchen towel. Mix at medium speed until the dough comes together and does not stick to the bowl anymore. Add the last cup of flour and incorporate.

- Oil a large bowl, transfer the dough and gently roll to oil it. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel, let rest in a warm place until it triples in volume, about 1h

- Dump onto a lightly floured surface and cut into buns, trying to deflate the dough as little as possible, transfer onto a baking sheet that you oiled and floured, cover with a towel and let sit for at least 1h in a warm, draft free place

- Preheat the oven to 350F with a pizza stone in it, transfer the buns to the hot stone, being careful not to deflate them too much. Put in the oven spray with water after 3 minutes, repeat twice, then cook for 20 to 25 min.