KarmaCiabatta
I love to knead bread by hand, preferably with my own wild yeast starter if I have made the time to care for a starter, which only happens once in a blue moon when we have grapes in bloom. But ciabatta is made from a soft, wet doughsticky "dough" that kneading in any traditional sense is out of the question. Instead, I used my food processor with my dough blade and a good 5-7 minutes in order to activate the gluten and warm up the yeast. This bread neither proof's the yeast, nor adds any sugar for the yeast to feast upon. It's an airy, rustic loaf and once you get the groove it's simple to make.
Ingredients:
- 6 cup White Spelt Flour
- 0.5 cup Vital Wheat Gluten
- 4 tsp Rapid Rise Yeast
- 4 tsp Salt
- 3 cup Water
Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a stand mixer with dough hook or if you have an extra large capacity food processor with dough blade and process for at least 5 minutes or until you have a cross between a thick batter and a sticky bread dough.
Pour the batter into a square plastic food container so that it has plenty of room to more than double in size. Make sure the lid is on tight and let rest for at least an hour and a half. If you want a ciabatta with a more sourdough flavor you can let this rest over night in the fridge.
Working with the sponge carefully as to not deflate the bubbles, carefully tip the dough out onto a floured cutting board.
Bake the loaves in a 425° oven for 30 minutes or until brown on top and hollow sounding on the bottom when tapped.