CIABATTA BREAD
I really thought after I got my KitchenAid that bread making would be all roses and rainbows and me humming a merry tune. But the picture of my Ciabatta bread pretty much speaks for itself. Ugh! I'm so embarrassed to post a picture this ugly. If you want to see what Ciabatta bread should look like, follow the links at the end of this blog - my fellow Bake 52ers did a great job on their bread!
There is a little Deli just down the road from me that serves up a yummy sweet red pepper chicken on ciabatta bread and I was looking forward to creating somewhat of the same thing. This rustic Italian bread is made with a starter flour/yeast mixture called a sponge. And as unappetizing as "sponge" sounds, it did summon up another Jerry Seinfeld reference that had me and a friend LOLing about if the Ciabatta bread is really "sponge worthy". I felt it was. The raising, the fold over, and the envelope folding (see
recipe) all went really well and I was feeling very confident about this bread - until the last step. Instead of the dough rising up at all, mine expanded out, looking like not much of anything. Actually, maybe a little like flubber, but white. I hoped it would rise a little when it cooked, but it didn't, and I think the recipe called for to much cooking time as my crust was very hard. Also, the parchment paper burned so it's the first time EVER that I baked bread and crinkled my nose at the smell. I couldn't even bring myself to make a sandwich with it, so we ended up tearing pieces off and dipping it in olive oil and vinegar. Not sponge worthy after all. I don't think I will make Ciabatta again, I'll leave it up the little Deli down the road. But I do think it's worth trying. Especially when you see how good it looks elsewhere! Emily was our host this week and you can go
HERE for the recipe.
I really thought after I got my KitchenAid that bread making would be all roses and rainbows and me humming a merry tune. But the picture of my Ciabatta bread pretty much speaks for itself. Ugh! I'm so embarrassed to post a picture this ugly. If you want to see what Ciabatta bread should look like, follow the links at the end of this blog - my fellow Bake 52ers did a great job on their bread!
There is a little Deli just down the road from me that serves up a yummy sweet red pepper chicken on ciabatta bread and I was looking forward to creating somewhat of the same thing. This rustic Italian bread is made with a starter flour/yeast mixture called a sponge. And as unappetizing as "sponge" sounds, it did summon up another Jerry Seinfeld reference that had me and a friend LOLing about if the Ciabatta bread is really "sponge worthy". I felt it was. The raising, the fold over, and the envelope folding (see recipe) all went really well and I was feeling very confident about this bread - until the last step. Instead of the dough rising up at all, mine expanded out, looking like not much of anything. Actually, maybe a little like flubber, but white. I hoped it would rise a little when it cooked, but it didn't, and I think the recipe called for to much cooking time as my crust was very hard. Also, the parchment paper burned so it's the first time EVER that I baked bread and crinkled my nose at the smell. I couldn't even bring myself to make a sandwich with it, so we ended up tearing pieces off and dipping it in olive oil and vinegar. Not sponge worthy after all. I don't think I will make Ciabatta again, I'll leave it up the little Deli down the road. But I do think it's worth trying. Especially when you see how good it looks elsewhere! Emily was our host this week and you can go HERE for the recipe.
Definitely NOT sponge worthy! I'm glad mine wasn't the only one with the smell, when I took it out of a ziploc it almost made me sick! Speaking of the deli... :)
ReplyDeleteSo funny, while I kept typing sponge, all that stuff from Seinfeld was popping into my head! (and I really haven't seen that many episodes, but I've seen that one.) I hope you got a little bonding time in with your mixer so it wasn't a total loss. And you got to eat bread and vinegar, right. Next time it will be all rainbows and humming! :)
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