Gottahaveit Ciabatta

This is an overnight bread dough, similar in that way to sourdough, but doesn't take quite as long. It is amazing, so few ingredients and tools, comes out gorgeous every time. Since I am a whole grain girl, I will be doing original recipe and my whole wheat grain version.

Whole Grain Whole Wheat Bread

One of the things I learned at Weight Wise is that whole grain flour is better for you than whole wheat. In that whole grain flour uses all three parts of the grain, as opposed to white, which only uses one and the misleadingly named whole wheat, which uses two parts. I am all for more fibre and they will pry carbs and gluten from my cold dead hands so I thought I would give it a try.

My usual bread recipe is the Tassajara bread recipe and is so amazing that I figured it would adapt to a heavier flour with pas de probleme. Nooot edzachary. After some tinkering, I was able to get a nice, dense loaf that slices well and is a true whole grain loaf. With a little bit of multi-grain flour for colour.

Stage One: The Sponge

3 1/2 c warm water (85-105 degrees - I like 95 and I use a thermometer, but a normal person could just use the inside of their wrist and go with warm-ish)
1 1/2 to 2 1/4 Tbsp active dry yeast (2-3 packages, not instant) - if you use the higher amount it will rise super fast, so keep an eye on it
1/4 c honey or sugar (honey of course)
1 c skim milk powder (still working on replacing that with scalded skim milk, texture not there just yet)
2 c multi-grain bread flour
2 c whole grain whole wheat flour (Rogers makes it, available at Sobey's, Safeway)

Preheat your oven to it's lowest setting for one minute; turn OFF. Pour the warm water into a large bowl, sprinkle on the yeast.

Looks a little Map-of-the-World if the whole world were beige, right?

Add in everything else, and start stirring slowly. When all is somewhat combined, start stirring clockwise for 100 strokes. Oh yes. 100 big ones. I suggest an enormous spatula and an enormous bowl, because that is how I roll.

Cover your bowl with plastic wrap, place in your warmed oven for 45 minutes. If you did not use an enormous bowl, check it after 30 minutes. I hate it (yes, I said "hate") when the dough rises and touches the plastic wrap; that is dough that has to be discarded and therefore will not be in my belly.

Once it is nice and gooey, take it out of the oven, which you should now warm for one more minute at it's lowest setting. Move to Stage Two!

Stage Two: Goo to Kneading

1 Tbsp salt
1/3 c melted butter or vegetable oil (one caveat: when I use the melted butter, I occasionally end up with a much crumbier loaf)
Up to 4 c whole grain whole wheat flour

Start folding in your ingredients, salt first, then oil, then gradually add in the flour, cup by cup. You do not want to add more than 3 cups during this part; save the last cup for kneading.

Sprinkle some of that last cup of flour onto your kneading surface; dump on zee dough. I find it is more like scrape your dough onto the counter, but whatever works. Have I mentioned how I think spatulas are the best things ever? Because they totally are.

I found this part to be really subjective based on each particular batch of dough. Keep an eye on how moist your dough feels while kneading; you never want it to be dry. You want it to be in that sweet spot between not sticky and dry. Start with small amounts of flour added to the top; fold the top over to incorporate, then fold out what squishes out the sides into the middle. Repeat for about 5 minutes, up to 10 anyways, if you are feeling all hardcore. Shape it into a nice round ball.

Spray the same bowl with oil, plunk your rounded lovely dough into the middle and cover with a slightly damp tea towel. You know what is amazing for making a tea towel slightly damp? A misting bottle! Because yes, a too damp towel bothers me.

Place in your re-warmed oven (because you totally did that right??) and let rise for 50 minutes.

Punch it down, gently, and place back in the oven for 40 more minutes. On to Stage Three!!

Lots of finesse, no Conan

Till it knuckles under

Stage Three: Dough to Bread

1 egg
1 Tbsp milk (dealers choice, whateveryagot)

Spray two loaf pans with oil; I like the ones below because they are massive and the finish is superb. Dump your dough out onto your counter; shape back into a ball and cut in half.

Round it up again and cover them with the damp cloth and let them sit for 5 minutes to get over the trauma. I always use a dough scraper for this part, mostly because it is awesome-sauce at scraping up random flour and dough bits after, but you could also use a long knife.

Does that look...offensive?

In recovery

Take each ball and knead with your right hand, folding over with your left. Do this 6 times and fold it over itself, pinching the seams together.

Open in the top! Mreep Mreep!

Whew! Pinched in

Set it seam-side-up into a loaf pan, pushing with your knuckles into the corners. Flip it over and knuckle some more until it looks relatively even.

Do the same with the second ball; let sit covered in that same towel for 25 minutes while you pre-heat your oven.

When the dough has risen and is over the edge of the pan, slice two evenly spaced crescents across the top of the loaf. This is for venting, so you want to be about 1/2 inch deep so you don't blow out the sides.

It's for the greater good

Mix your egg and milk together and brush allll over the loaf. Sprinkle with your favourite random grain or seed; whereas I typically use sesame seeds for my usual recipe, I decided to use cracked wheat. Just so I can tell in the freezer which one I got. Other ideas: pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, flax seeds. Hmm, those are all seeds. Get freaky in the bulk food aisle!

Bake for 25 minutes; rotate your pans and bake for another 25. Let cool on a wire rack and enjoy!!

This is sort of like the centerfold of a food magazine. This bread likes butter, jam, smiley carb-addicts and rainy days, which are the best  for baking! 

The sunlit beach photo

A closeup of the goods

Closer...

And we're all up in it

The denouement

Equipment Corner

Amazon has very graciously allowed me to provide links for the products that I like and use; lookit!



I wasn't able to find my exact enormous bowl, as it was a gift from my mom, and my hooge spatula is from a restaurant supply store, but this is a larger version of my favourite. And my favourite. Yay for kitchen supplies!

Cinnamon Raisin and Whole Wheat Bread

There are a lot of things out there that make baking and cooking easier and faster these days, from breadmakers to crockpots to take-and-bake options at supermarkets. I partake all the time, what with the whole three-small-kiddos thing, but one thing that I love to make myself is bread. Wonderful bread. You may throw carb-arrows at me all day, but you will never convince me to give it up. I moderate my intake (somewhat, see rounded edges) but there really is nothing like a freshly baked loaf of bread to feed you and your fambly. I will do two here, Whole Wheat and Cinnamon Raisin.

Here is everything I need to bake bread:

My three-year-old calls it the "sand Mommy uses to make cookies"

Whole Wheat Multi-grain Bread

• 3 c lukewarm water (85-105 degrees, no hotter. I like 95, because I'm balanced like that)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast (not instant - two of those extremely over-priced packets)
• 1/4 c honey
• 1 c dry milk
• 2 c whole wheat flour ( I also use Best for Bread flour from Rogers)
• 2 c multi-grain flour blend, Best for Bread - you can also just use all whole wheat

Cinnamon Raisin

• 3 c lukewarm water (still 85-105 degrees, no hotter)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast (not instant - buying in bulk is waaaaay cheaper)
• 1/4 c honey
• 1 c dry milk
• 2 c whole wheat flour ( I also use Best for Bread flour from Rogers)
• 2 c unbleached all-purpose white flour (or Best for Bread Homestyle White)

Warm an oven at it's lowest setting for one minute and TURN OFF.

Put the water in the bowl, add the yeast, then add everything else carefully. Stir all the ingredients until they are together, then give it a 100 good strokes. Cover it with saran wrap, but don't let it touch the surface. This is called the sponge, and it ain't pretty. If it touches the surface it will be impossible to get the wet dough off, so make sure you have a big enough bowl. Put the bowl in the warmed oven (TURNED OFF warm oven, right??) and let it rise for 45 minutes.

Sticky sponge - only sounds good.

Remove from the oven, and you will need:

Multi-Grain Whole Wheat Bread

• 1 Tbsp salt (not kosher)
• 1/3 c melted butter or vegetable oil
• 4 c whole wheat flour

Cinnamon raisin

• 1 Tbsp salt (still not kosher)
• 1/3 c melted butter or oil
• 2 Tbsp (or more-ish) cinnamon
• 1 c Thompson seedless raisins
• 4 c unbleached all-purpose white flour (or Best for Bread white, yadda yadda, you know)

Sprinkle the salt, then pour on the melted butter or oil. For the cinnamon raisin bread, here is where you add in the cinnamon and raisins, after the salt and butter, but before the flour.

Look! It's a heart!

I know, it doesn't look like much. Just wait!

This is when you add the flour. You will want to gird your loins, folding 3 cups of flour into this dough is going to require some strong-arm work. I have found that using the biggest bowl and spatula that you can handle comfortably makes it easier and faster. I have a huge spatula (I'm not a dude, so that's not a metaphor) and massive bowl (um, neither is that) so I add a cup of flour at a time. You probably want to stick to 1/2 c at a time. Anyway, fold in the first three cups, flour on top, bringing the dough over it:

New stuff on top, use the spoon or spatula to fold the dough over top of it

And keep doing it

And just when you think you are done, do some more.

After all three cups of flour are added, use part of the remaining cup of flour and empty the bowl onto a floured counter. Oil the bowl, but you don't need to wash it yet. The dough will be very sticky, so flour everything, your hands, the dough, the counter again, everything.

Stiiiicky

If you flour the spatula, like zo, you can salvage the dough stuck on it by rubbing it off

The artistic side view

Knead the dough for about 5 to 10 minutes, adding flour as you go along, until it is no longer sticky. Don't use too much flour, sticking to the one cup or less, because if the dough is too dry, it won't stick later when you want it to and that is not fixable. So, little bits! To knead dough, take the top part and fold it down towards the bottom. Then pick up each side and try to fold them over each other. The pick up the bottom and fold it towards the top. The basic theory is that you are adding a bunch of air by folding it into the dough, and all the working builds the gluten.

Once the dough is a nice and smooth ball, place it back in the oiled bowl, spray it with oil and cover with a damp cloth that is not terry cloth (holds moisture) like zo:

The approach

Folding top part down

Then bring the sides in together, folding over each other

Then the bottom part comes up

Eventually, it will look like this

Or this!

Ugly and green is okay, terry cloth is not

Place it back in the pre-warmed oven and let rise for 50 minutes, until almost doubled. Punch down carefully and let rise again for 40 minutes.

Hello beautiful

Squished

After the dough has almost doubled again, lightly flour the counter again (VERY lightly) and reshape into a ball. Using a dough cutter or large knife, cut into half and shape each half into a ball.

Cinnamon raisin!

Halving. Ish

Whole wheat in half

Cover with the damp cloth again and let rest for 5 minutes. Take each ball and do a half-knead in a circle. That means fold over the dough with your right hand and do a knead with the heel of your left hand. Do this 4 or 5 times until all the dough has been folded over, then fold it in half and pinch the edges together. If your dough is a little bit too wet for this, add a little flour. If it is too dry, you used too much flour earlier and that is not fixable. Dang. Anyway, pinch it all together and place it into an oiled loaf pan with the pinched seam side up. You are going to push that dough into the corners with your knuckles, as well as you can. Flip it over, do the same on the other side. It should be nice and greasy and somewhat loaf-pan-shaped.

Pinched seam

Knuckled somewhat into the corners

Let rise, covered, for 25 minutes. Make two slices across the top for venting (if you don't the sides blow oot) and brush with egg wash. To make egg wash, beat one egg with about a tablespoon of milk. I sprinkle the whole wheat loaves with raw sesame seeds, but you can do whatever. Let your freak flag fly!

Sliced

With egg wash and invisible sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees; bake the bread for 40-60 minutes, rotating half way through. That is a large time difference, but it really depends on your oven. Mine are super hot, so usually it takes about 40-45 minutes. Check it after 40, add time as needed.

Whole wheat

Luscious cinnamon raisin

I had to laugh at myself; I compared myself to the Anal Retentive Chef before and I found some more evidence while I was doing prep.

I don't know if you can tell, but that is an unopened bag of raisins. In a ziploc baggie with a clip ready for closing it whenever I get around to using said raisins. So organized. So sad.