Sourdough Ciabatta

My first attempt at ciabatta was a total disaster. I decided to start from scratch and completely rethink the recipe. Second time around I think I nailed it. Beautiful open crumb and wonderful flavor.

450 g water

53 g whole wheat flour

477 g bread flour

90 g active starter

15 g salt

18 g olive oil

*yields two medium size loaves at 85% hydration

Step 1 Autolyse - 2pm Day 1

Mix together 400 g of water and 530 g of the combined flour. Make sure there are no clumps, cover and set to autolyse for up to six hours. Note that you are reserving 50 g of the total water for the next step.

Step 2 Bassinage Technique - 7pm Day 1 

Because of the high hydration, a stand mixer makes this process quite a bit easier. You can mix by hand but it doubles the amount of time it takes to develop the gluten. 

Combine the autolyse mixture, 15 g of salt, 90 g of active sourdough starter, and 18 g of olive oil into your mixing bowl. Lower the hook attachment into the bowl and start it at the lowest setting for a few minutes. Very slowly add in the remaining 50 g of water. At this point you may begin to question whether or not it’s going to work but stay the course and the dough will start forming structure. Increase the mixer speed and continue to add water slowly. Increase the speed again. Total mixing time will take about 10-15 minutes. You’ll notice that with patience, the dough begins to form a ball and will start slapping against the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough into a large mixing bowl or container.

Step 3 Additional Folding - 7:15pm - 9:00pm Day 1

You’ll want to fold the dough three times (with your hands) over the course of the next 1.5 hours to develop the gluten. By the end the dough should be very smooth and should not stick to your hands while folding. It will remain very wet but it should pass the windowpane test. Cover and rest overnight at room temperature. 

Step 4 Proofing - 7am Day 2

Uncover the dough and generously flour the surface. Gently pull the edges of the dough back from the sides of the container allowing flour to rolls down along the edges. Turn the container over onto a floured surface and divide the dough into two halves. The key now is to touch the dough as little as possible. Gently shape each half into rectangles and transfer them onto a well floured couche. Any clean kitchen linens will work if you don’t own a baker’s couche. You’ll want to make sure there is a barrier between the two doughs as they proof. Give another dusting of flour to the top of the dough and cover with another couche or kitchen linens. Allow to proof for another 2 - 3 hours.

Step 5 Baking - 10am Day 2 

Your oven should be set to 450F with a heatproof bowl of water on the rack to create steam. The next part can be a little tricky and you may need to improvise depending on the type of tools you’re working with. Now it’s time to get your proofed dough off of the couche, onto a peel or board, and into the oven. As long as you have floured the couche and dough liberally you shouldn’t have any issues with the dough sticking. Because of the high hydration you’ll need to work somewhat quickly and confidently. Now you’ll flip each dough off of the couche and onto your launching tool in one clean motion so that the bottom now becomes the top. I like to use parchment paper for this stage as well. For this recipe, both doughs should fit on a medium sized pizza peel and will bake directly on a stone in a medium sized conventional oven. Bake for 20 minutes with the steam and lower the temperature to 425F. Remove the bowl of water and baker for another 20-25 mins until golden brown and well risen. Remove from oven and allow to cool before slicing. 

Porchetta sandwich with salsa verde

This was my first trial of an oven roasted porchetta sandwich with salsa verde, grated caciocavallo, on a sourdough sesame roll. Local cheese from Jersey Cheese and pork sourced from NK Prime Meats. There are definitely a few tweaks to be made on future iterations but overall pretty satisfied with version 1.0.

You’ll find countless porchetta recipes that all use different cuts of pork (from pork shoulder to pork belly) but the traditional method uses a large section of pork belly with the ribs removed and the loin still attached. If you can’t find a butcher who can prepare this more specialized cut for you, a compromise would be taking a skin-on cut of pork belly and a piece of pork loin, and working backwards to recreate the original cut. In the video below, you can watch the exact process of how the meat was broken down and rolled together with a blend of aromatics.

The filling:

Finely dice fennel fronds, rosemary, sage, and garlic and mix together in a medium size mixing bowl. Add dried & crushed hot chili flakes to taste. Add zest of one lemon. Add 2 teaspoons of dried fennel seed powder, salt and pepper. Add oil oil so the entire mixture comes together like a thick paste. 

Remove the skin from the belly and set aside for later. Next cut the loin to the exact size of the belly and butterfly it open to maximize the surface area of the meat. Set the loin piece aside and spread the aromatic filling all over the surface of the pork belly, fat side down. Lay in the butterflied loin piece and generously spread more of the filling all over the meat. Carefully roll up the belly and loin and position with fat side facing up. Rub more paste all over the top before laying on the piece of skin that was previously removed. 

Using butcher's twine, you want to carefully truss the porchetta every few inches so that the whole piece is secure during cooking. Using a sharp boning knife, make small punctures all over the surface of the skin so that the fat renders out during cooking. Wrap porchetta and refrigerate for 6 hours to overnight. Allow to sit out at room temperature before putting it into the oven to allow the meat to relax, yielding a more tender piece of meat.

Roasting:

Set porchetta into a roasting pan with rack to keep the meat elevated during cooking. Cook for 40 minutes at 475F before lowering the temperature down to 300F for another 2 - 4 hours until the internal temperature reads 155F. The skin should puff up as it cooks and result in an airy, crispy texture. If skin still feels rubbery, use the broiler (with a very careful eye not to burn it) to finish off the skin before removing from the oven. Allow the meat to rest 30 minutes before slicing. 

Salsa Verde:

Using a food processor, blend together two bunches of parsley, garlic, a few spoonfuls of capers, 3 fillets of anchovies, juice of one lemon, a few splashes of white vinegar, and a few glugs of olive oil.

Porchetta Sandwich:

Slice porchetta in thin slices and set aside some of the crispy skin. Layer meat on a freshly baked sourdough sesame roll (recipe here) and top with salsa verde and freshly grated caciocavallo cheese (or provolone).  

Sourdough Sesame Rolls

I’ve been fine tuning this recipe for a few months and finally getting to a good place. It was a lot of trial and error, and ultimately deciding that I should remove all added fats (olive oil or butter) to let the fermentation happen unaltered. I also ratcheted up the autolyse time up to 6 hours which seemed to have a big effect on the airiness of the crumb and softness of the bread.

Mix together 400 g of water and 530 g of bread flour and set to autolyse for up to six hours. Add 20 g of salt and 90 g of active sourdough starter and start working into the dough with your hands or with a rubber spatula until more or less homogenous. Let rest for 45 minutes. You’ll want to fold the dough two more times (with your hands) over the course of the next 1 - 2 hours to develop the gluten. By the end the dough should be very smooth and should not stick to your hands while folding. Cover and rest overnight at room temperature. 

In the morning transfer the dough to a clean working surface dusted with flour. Divide the dough into 4 - 6 equal parts depending on the size and shape of the rolls you’re making. Shape each piece being careful not to degas the dough. Set the balls onto parchment paper and sprinkle each piece with plain sesame seeds or poppy seeds depending on your preference. Cover and let rise for 2 - 3 hours.

Set oven to 450F. Using a bread laim, score each dough ball. Bake for 30 minutes with a heat proof bowl of water in the oven to create ambient moisture. Remove rolls from oven and allow to cool before slicing. 

Wood Fired: Because of the difficulty of keeping consistency in a wood fired oven, I parbaked the rolls in a conventional oven for 20 minutes, and then moved them into the wood fire to finish them off. This reduces the risk of burning but gives the bread a nice rustic flavor and crust.