Whole wheat ciabatta.
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup water warm
- 1 pinch instant yeast
- 1 cup water warm
- 1/2 tbsp yoghurt or kefir or whey
- 1 tbsp yoghurt or kefir or whey
- 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 1/4 cup bread flour
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup water cool
- 1/4 cup skim milk powder
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp instant yeast
Servings: loaves
Instructions
- Make the biga: Mix the 1/2 cup of warm water with the 1/2 Tbsp of yoghurt, then stir in the 1 cup of whole wheat flour and the pinch of yeast. Cover with plastic wrap or a plate and let rest overnight (at least 12 hours) in a non-metallic bowl at room temperature.
- Make the soaker: Mix the 1 cup of water with the 1 Tbsp of yoghurt, then stir in the 1-1/4 cups of whole wheat flour. Cover with plastic wrap or a plate and let rest overnight (at least 12 hours) in a non-metallic bowl at room temperature.
- Mix the soaker, the biga, the bread flour, and the olive oil in a stand mixer. Stir the 1/4 cup of water with the milk powder, then add to the bowl as well. Mix with dough hook attachment until mostly hydrated then cover with a tea towel and let rest 45 - 60 minutes.
- Mix in the salt and the yeast. Continue mixing for 10 minutes -- the dough will be too wet to ever form a ball. Scrape the dough into a greased bowl and cover.
- Every hour for the next 3 hours, place the dough on a copiously floured work surface, copiously flour the dough, and then brush off as much of the flour as possible. Gently pat out the gas, stretch the dough to twice its length and then fold it in thirds like a letter. Give the dough a one-quarter turn, then stretch and fold it again. Place it back in the bowl and re-cover it.
- After the third stretch and fold let the dough rest for 10 minutes then divide it into two. Gently stretch and pat each loaf into a 12 x 4 inch rectangle, and place them in a baker's couche (essentially, well-floured linen that you bunch up around the loaves so that they rise up instead of spreading out) or on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Cover with greased plastic and let rise for about 2 hours (or as long as 4 if your house is really cold).
- Place an empty broiler pan on the very bottom rack and a pizza stone on the rack above that. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
- While the oven heats up, boil some water in a kettle. Once the oven reaches 500 and the stone is hot, turn the oven down to 425 F, put the loaves in the oven on the stone, and toss 1 cup of boiling water into the broiler pan to create steam. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes.
- Turn off the oven, remove the pizza stone, and place the loaves directly on the oven rack. Leave the oven cracked open a couple inches and allow the loaves to cool in there. Will take ages and ages, so if you're impatient, skip this and cool on the counter.
Recipe Notes
Source: King Arthur Flour Whole Grains Baking
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/wholewheatciabatta, http://fearsfood.blogspot.com/2011/05/ciabatta-integrale.html