I think from the first time I sank my teeth into the chewy texture of ciabatta, I knew i was hooked and this was to be favorite bread—but I never thought in a million years that I could actually make a loaf as tasty and beautiful in the almost languishing manner it rests hot on a baking sheet or invitingly on the cutting board. But, along came my copy of the King Arthur’s Cook Book and spurred on by a recent success on a french bread loaf, I coaxed myself into giving it a shot. I’m so glad I did. It’s unbelievably easy.

KA starts with a biga, of course that term terrified me—what’s a biga?? So simple: it consists of 3 ingredients: flour (1 1/2 C), 1/2 C of water, and 1/4 tsp of instant yeast. Just mix them altogether in a medium size bowl and let it sit overnight for up to 18 hours. The book say 12 hrs. but, trust me, 18 works just as well. I had a tad bit of dry flour that didn’t want to incorporate into the biga so I added, in tad little splashes, water to just incorporate all of the flour with out making the flour a messy goo (which probably would have been fine anyway!)
The Dough: I used my KitchenAid Pro 6 to initiallly blend the biga pcs–after rising for 12 to 18 hrs—- (The text says to tear the biga into “walnut sized pieces” and dump into a blender’s mixing bowl.) Then add 3/4 C + 3 Tbs of water to the mixing bowl alongwith 1 tsp of instant yeast; 2 tsps of non-fat dry milk; 1+1/2 tsp salt; 1 tbs of olive oil, and, fiinally, 2 cups of unbleached AP flour. Mix with the paddle blade for about 3 minutes on your lowest speed. Next, switch to the dough hook and beat on medium speed for a minimum of 10 minutes. The dough will have a beautiful silkiness to it. The dough hook slides easily out of it. Then put the dough in a lightly oiled pan or glass bowl and let it rise for 2 to 3 hrs, deflating and degassing and turning it over every 45 minutes.
The next step is to spread the dough onto a prepared bake pan which has been doused with olive oil and sprinkled with corn meal–to accommodate a size of 11 by 14 . Then take your fingers and dimple the dough. The oven should be preheated to 425 deg. about 20 minutes before you insert the baking pan with the loaf. First, however, the dough should rise about two hours while resting under a saranwrap sprayed with oil. The dough will easily rise until it is doubled in bulk. Next put it in the oven with some water in a round cake pan and bake at 425 for for about 20-25 minutes, but you need to spritz water in the oven every 7 to 10 minutes during the baking time.
I actually could only cook mine for about 17 minutes before turning off the oven lest it burn.
I did leave the loaf in the hot oven till my original timer ended. I tested the loaf and it came out at 232 degrees so I think my oven is running on the hot side. I’ll have to secure an oven thermometer to determine if the oven is too hot. Anyway the pix are of the finished loaf. It tasted really great with a soft chewy center and a crunchy crust. I used the KA unbleached all purpose bread flour which was excellent, maybe even the best bread flour I’ve used. There will definitely be more of that flour in my pantry or fridge. Happy flour trails, everyone. Bernie

*Click to enlarge

Unless you’re baking with fresh flour and slow sourdough fermentation, you have a lot of things working against you. The nutrients in flour start oxidizing pretty rapidly. After a week, a lot of it is gone. I grind my flour right before mixing. Also, grains contain phytic acid, which prevents your body from absorbing minerals, and lectins, which interrupt hormone receptors on your hypothalamus, causing obesity. Sourdough fermentation destroys both of these substances, as will sprouting.