Quick Rise Ciabatta Bread: The Movie!


Ciabatta 08-12-11

Heidi and C worked up this little instructional video for her quick-rise ciabatta bread.

(By “her” I think he means the one I learned from him and Rebecca?? 🙂 )

4 cups flour (I do half wheat)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoons yeast
2 c hot water

Mix all, cover and let sit 8 to 18 hours or somewhere in there.

If you want a same day dough, increase the yeast to 1 teaspoon then let rise at least 2 hours or until bubbly looking. It has a less intense flavor but is still delicious.

When you want to bake flour a cutting board (we use a flexible one from IKEA) and dump the dough onto it, patting into an approximate lump. Preheat oven to 500 degrees (I do 450 as our oven runs hot) with a dutch oven inside of it. When hot, dump the dough ball into the dutch oven and COVER it (this is important.) Cook about 20 minutes, uncover then cook until golden brown on top. Dump out, cool, slice and enjoy! Add some rosemary, garlic & cracked pepper if you want a fantastic savory bread.

Here’s the pan we got:

We bought the Lodge Logic 5-Quart Double Dutch Oven with Skillet Cover – it was comparable in price to others, it’s free shipping on Amazon AND the lid works as its own pan to make yummy, crusty cornbread. Or you can use it on the stove top for cooking, though I’ve not tried that yet because we have a cast iron skillet with longer handle. I like that it has the handles on the side vs. the top because it’s easier for me to grab and flip off when cooking ciabatta bread in a 450+ degree oven. We love it, and if we ever go camping we’ll be set for campfire cobbler. Though I did recently make a cobbler in this in the oven – a dump cake variation, it was delicious. Plus extra iron! I was told to cook in cast iron when pregnant and anemic, for all you expecting ladies.

Vegan Cookies Revised

I’ve been playing around with this recipe and this is my favorite version thus far. It’s vegan but can be made with an egg if you prefer (just leave out the water & flaxseed in that case.) Until our backyard hens start producing we just default to vegan. So, recipe:

1 heaping tablespoon ground flaxseed combined with
1/2 c water (Mix these first, they’ll form an egg like consistency)

Then add in:

3/4 c brown sugar
3/4 c white sugar
3/4 c canola oil
1 t vanilla
1 t salt

Mix well, then stir in:

2 c flour (I did 1 white, 1 wheat)
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 1/2 to 2 c quick oats
1 c diced nuts (or not)
1 c chocolate chips (or craisins, etc)

Optional – M&Ms, crisp rice cereal for crunch, coconut, etc.

Scoop onto well greased cookie sheet or use a silicone mat, and bake at 350 degrees around 10 minutes. Let cool a minute then transfer to cooling rack. These can be baked as small scoops or use 1/4 cup measuring for giant cookies.

Each batch of these turns out different depending on what I add for mix ins, which can obviously thicken them up more like cake cookies or make them thin and flat and chewy. I prefer the flat, chewy, slightly underdone. Since these are egg free they are safe to bake a short time and leave gooey. Or just eat the dough, which is also yummy!

We use ground light flax we buy in a bulk bag from Sams (or Costco has a jar of it, and some local grocers.) You can also buy flaxseed whole and grind it yourself, I’ve just been too lazy to price it out and try that method. We used flaxseed instead of egg in everything because of our egg allergy boy – pancakes, waffles, cookies, muffins, coffeecakes. We use baking powder instead of egg in our cornbread. For desserts like lemon bars we use silken tofu, for lemon curd or key lime pie we use cornstarch instead of egg. The only thing we’ve not been able to figure out is creme brulee – it’s pretty egg dependent. 😀