July 4, 2023 - 11:10am
Ciabattini: my new go-to roll
Love these ciabatta with stiff biga, used as sandwich rolls. Each roll is its own mini-ciabatta! Hamelman formula but with bassinage coil folds by hand. Great with ham or cheese.
Ciabattini: 6 X 90-100g.
- Biga of 20% of the flour at 60% hydration for 15h. (I used 0.083% IDY.)
- 73% total hydration (to start + lots more during kneading, 80-85% total by end).
- 2% salt
- 0.58% total idy yeast (0.5% idy in main dough + 0.083% in biga).
- 300g total flour (Natural Grocer's all-purpose, with 5% swapped out for lightly toasted wheat germ).
Method:
- Make the biga 15h before. With only 60g of flour, I use 50 mg of IDY, which is only a pinch.
- Mix everything with chopstick at 73% total hydration. Let sit 30m to absorb.
- 3h bulk. Fold every 20-30m as long as it takes using "bassinage coil" method: that is, use very wet hands with intention of raising dough hydration to 80-85% by end. Each fold you are adding a little more water. Coil fold is: with wet hands lift dough straight up in bowl from center, and then allow one of the two drapes to fold back over itself as you put the dough back down. Rotate 90 degrees and repeat x4. It's basically a vertical stretch and fold using gravity.
- Very gently using scraper or hands, place delicate dough onto well floured parchment paper. Divide into 6 rectangle pieces of 90-100g each floured heavily on each side.
- About 1 1/4 hour proof at 79F.
- Bake on stone under cover of upside down roasting pan for steam at 450F for 20-30m till dark brown crust.
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Comments
I need a dozen so will double everything… would you ? Also did you do any rise after shaping ? Will be making tomorrow. Thank you. c
Yes, forgot to add. Corrected.
I want to double but I hate the "cast iron steam" thing so baked fewer to fit under my magnelite roaster turned upside down on my stone.
But yah, I should bite the bullet and go back to the old days of cast iron steam for this one loaf.
These look great, I’m sure they made excellent sandwiches.
Benny
I didn’t get biga stirred up so will try it tomorrow. For double recipe I’ll refrigerate 1/2 while first half baking. You could try that to get your multiple bakes of the smaller rolls. c
I used your percentages exactly. I doubled everything and used the full 85% hydration by the time I did my “ Lam- bassinage” where I laminate with the extra water several times q 30 min to get a puffy highly developed gluten dough. Left to rise. No need to cover baked at 450 on parchment for 25min. No extra misting etc.
I used 300g Arrowhead Mills AP and milled 150g Rouge de Bordeaux and 150g Big Country White wheat to get 600g. I also used my KA to incorporate the biga with the flour and initial water. Turned out excellently! I will definitely be making frequently. Will add SD to the mix next time and change up the flour for fun. Thank you for posting such an easy splendid formula… just what I like. Crumb shot in a bit with lunch.
So glad you posted with photos. We now know doubling works. And I now see what they look like without steam.
I am intrigued by your bassi-lamination versus my bassi-coil. I don’t normally laminate (with occasional exception for putting in raisins and walnuts). So I think, for me, the coil is closer to my normal practice. I notice the holes in my crumb tended toward the horizontal whereas yours were more circular. But that hardly matters.
You might try the 5% lightly ttoasted wheat germ sometime. It adds a subtle nutty note.
Let me know how the sd works. I know hamelman suggests 10% of total flour in the Sd, with 2/3 of the yeast of the normal recipe in the final dough.
I always do a lamination at least that’s what I call it. Basically a very wet counter, wet surface of dough and dimple it in while making a large thin sheet which I lift and fold over onto itself. Repeat with more water q 30 min til dough resists and gluten very well developed. This makes it easy to incorporate lots of water and develop the gluten sheath.
Our crumbs are likely different due to the high amount of whole grains I used as well as shaping vs non shaping that I do . I simply cut the puffy dough and gingerly lift each piece onto the floured couche and heavily flour the tops too. When risen I lifted with my dough scraper and gently placed top down on parchment. Baked 25 min.
I’m going to try SD as well as try my French t85 flour for a more baguette type texture and crispy crust. Will definitely keep you posted. So glad I found this post by you!
So good I decided to have a go myself! Thanks for the formuIa.
I made 1.5X quantity as I figured this is the most that would fit in a single layer in my oven. This made 9 ciabattini (I like the name!) scaled at 90g. I added 11% white wholewheat to give a little wholewheat flavour and healthiness.
Interesting that JH uses 0.2% fresh yeast in his poolish and biga versions, whereas classic biga uses 1.0%.
I might try Massari biga recipe next time - uses 100% biga, ie no extra flour in the main dough.
Lance
The color in yours is so puzzlingly "white", and the texture so light, whereas mine (95% AP with only 5% toasted wheat germ) looks darker like an extraction flour. What hydration is yours overall?
I've wondered many times over the years about Hamelman's Biga yeast percentages. My sense is that the "classic" biga made with 1% cy at the "classic". 55F or 60F demands much more yeast when it's made at the 70F he specifies. (Hey, in Tucson at moment it's 80F at 5a at the very coldest of the day, so I was okay with his quantities x 12h.) Hamelman is a self-professed "poolish guy" who learned in Germany, so he also may not have as much devotion to or deep familiarity with Italian tradition. I'm okay with his biga in this particular use--as rolls--as I'm not really looking for the distinctive nutty "baguette" taste. But interesting observation.
My hydration was 80%. Using UK flours, I was reluctant to go to 85%, but when I handled the dough later, I reckon it would have taken a bit more water.
I would say your proposed biga temp of 55-60 is a little low; there is always recipe variation, but I think 18C/65F is more usual - obviously difficult in Tucson summer!
For reference here is one of the many copies of the Giorilli recipe:
https://blog.giallozafferano.it/fablesucre/ciabatte-di-giorilli/
I'll give your toasted wheatgerm a try next time; I have used it in the past, but was a bit pushed for time. I know Simon Bowden is a big fan of using it. https://www.instagram.com/simons_bread/
Lance
The link you posted is a 100% biga ciabatta: all the flour is biga, with ~1% brewer's yeast in the biga, plus another 0.2% at the main mix. So roughly the same total yeast as JH, but reversed between biga and mix; which makes sense since the biga has all the flour rather than just 20%. This might be delicious but is likely a very different roll than the one I did at the top of the thread. A super-fermented Biga vs the barely-fermented biga. Would be interesting to compare and contrast. Which raises the question: has anyone done an 100% levain? ;-)
I went the full 85% hydration due to 50% whole grains. I know nothing about biga use so when it was stiff and difficult to mix I kneaded it and then set it to rise in a warm place … uh oh… when it tripled in a couple hours and I used only the tiniest pinch of ADY I refrigerated the biga. Could I have done anything else wrong 😂😂😳?
Anyway despite all I am very pleased with these split buttered and toasted under the broiler then topped with thin slices of ham and Swiss.
Questions about the Italian version posted. What is meant by “ brewers yeast” in baking? I assume it’s a translation error? I used my Kitchen Aid mixer but not for 30 min. There is a very old posting on TFL about Ciabatta that does the 30 min mixing I used it many yrs ago.
I rise and shape ciabatta exactly as the link states. I love the puffy texture. I didn’t mist these but have in the past. When I make again with my French flour I expect to have the larger holes as you show and whiter grain.
Glad to see your take on these.
Well I think your take on the biga is correct - it's an accepted technique if the weather is warm to shorten the RT time and then refrigerate.
Brewers' Yeast/Lievito di birra is fresh bakers yeast. I guess it's a historical name harking back to when bakers got their barm yeast from the local brewer. This is how it was in the UK, where there is little history of sourdough use in past times.
It will be interesting to see your T65 results.
Lance
T80 from L'Epicerie. I looked back and had ordered it last August. I had a 20 kg bag and have 5 kg left. I will adjust the amount of fresh yeast for using ADY. I also want to try this with SD. I used to make ciabattini all the time years ago and got away from it . Fun to explore.
This is the formula I used a couple times years ago. https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2984/jasons-quick-coccodrillo-ciabatta-breadIt does make a soupy mess.
I love the formula that Wild Yeast has on her blog which is still available even though she hasn't posted in many years .http://www.wildyeastblog.com/sourdough-ciabatta-rolls/