I love ciabatta, so I just had to have a go at it. I used the recipe from “The Book of Bread” by Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter that I managed to pick up second-hand for the princely sum of £3.58 including postage. I struggle to imagine that anyone made money out of that deal.
Anyhow, making the biga starter was quite interesting. Never done one of those before. That was pretty hard work to knead by hand. After mixing it with the rest of the ingredients, I suspect I left the bulk fermentation a little too long and the dough was starting to climb out of the bowl. It was also very incredibly sticky and I suspect that when I tipped it out to do the final shaping I may have knocked it back a bit. After the final prove, what I ended up with still looks ok for a first try, I think.
I was enjoying myself too much to take more photos 😀
Taste was good, but the crumb size was a bit too regular. I think what I need to do for the next attempt, hopefully this coming weekend, is to leave the bulk fermentation for a shorter period, then tip all the dough out onto a worksurface, roughly shape it and then divide it before sliding it back onto a tray for the final prove. We’ll see how it goes.