Ciabatta : Free And Easy Bake-Along #20

I am into bread making lately. Especially, ever since I received my book "The Artisan Bread Machine" by Judith Fertig. The wonderful smell of bread baking in the kitchen truly warms the heart! I was really looking forward to try my hands at making Ciabatta, Lena's pick for our Bake-Along. When I read through "The Artisan Bread Machine", it requires a sourdough starter that needs about anywhere from 5 to 15 days for the slow fermentation at its own pace. So, I put that till later when I'm ready to start on the sourdough, and in the meantime, I made this from another book that I have, and a stick-on note sticking out from this very page, Ciabatta. Well, that's one stick-on note down!

On the plus side, Ciabatta does not require kneading, but the dough is too soft to handle, I need more practice in handling really soft dough like this. The starter was left to ferment overnight, and mix with the rest of the ingredients the next day, and leave to rise for about 2 hours.

Divide the really soft dough into two and place on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal to prevent sticking. Left to rise  for about 45 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven, when done, immediately turn out to a wire rack to cool completely. Ciabatta is an Italian word for slippers, refering to the shape of the bread, somewhere between a flatbread and a loaf-shaped bread. Do they look like slippers to you?  :)

How does it taste? Really nice, crusty crust with soft chewy crumbs. I would love to have more airholes in them, but overall this is quite nice.

We had this for our simple but satisfying lunch. Slice Ciabatta horizontally and butter on cut side. Toast lightly for about 3-4 minutes. Spread with filling, top with cheddar or mozarella cheese, toast until cheese melts and bread is  crispy, about 8 minutes. Filling :  sandwich ham cut to small cubes,  chopped tomatoes, fresh coriander, mix all ingredients together. Seasoning, some pizza seasoning, dash of salt and coarse black pepper, 2 tablespoon Thousand Island Dressing. Mix well. Top with cheese. Toast for about 10 minutes at 150C until cheese melts and bread is crispy. Just like mini-pizza!

Am trying out other Ciabatta recipes! In search of bigger airholes!! :) Hopefully I'll have a really nice one to share in a couple of days more.

Let's view Lena's and Zoe's Ciabatta bake and our friends who are baking along with us at the linky below. For our next Bake-Along, we will be baking Fresh Strawberry Cake with White Chocolate Chips, from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman. If you do not have this book, try google for the recipe, I'm sure you will be able to find it, otherwise, you may bake any fresh strawberries and white chocolate chips cake. The linky for this will be open on 27 March. Hope to see you! Everyone's welcome to join in.

I'm sharing this with :

BYOB - Bake Your Own Bread hosted by Girlichef

Cookbook Sundays hosted by Couscous & Consciousness

Bake with Bizzy hosted by Bizzy Bakes

Ciabatta Bread

(adapted from "The Bread Book" by Sara Lewis)

For The Starter or Biga :

125gm (1-1/8 cups) organic unbleached strong white flour

1/2 teaspoon caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon fast-action dried yeast

150ml (2/3 cup) warm water

For The Second Stage :

1 tablespoon milk powder

2 tablespoons olive oil

375gm (3-1/2 cups) organic unbleached strong white flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon caster sugar

1 teaspoon fast-action dried yeast

250ml (1 cup) water

1. To make the starter, put the flour, sugar and yeast into a bowl and gradually mix in the warm water to make a smooth batter. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave overnight in a warm place.
2. For the second stage, add the milk powder, oil, flour, salt, sugar and yeast to the starter then gradually mix in the measured warm water to make a smooth, thick spoonable batter. Cover and leave in a warm place for 2 hours until the batter has tripled in size.
3. Grease a large baking sheet then sprinkle it with a little cornmeal or flour. Scrape the dough into 2 mounds on the baking sheet. With well-floured hands, gently pull the dough into 2 long loaves about 25cm (10 inches) in length.
4. Leave in a warm place, uncovered, for 45 minutes or until half as big again. Bake in a preheated oven, 220C, 425F, Gas Mark 7, for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped with the fingertips.
5. Holding the tin with oven gloves, loosen the bread with a palette knife. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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Orange-Caramel Sticky Buns

Do you have the book "The Artisan Bread Machine" by Judith Fertig? Well, if you do have it, have you made this "Orange-Caramel Sticky Buns" yet? If you have made this, then you already know how wonderful these buns are, if you have not made this yet, put this on your list, better still, make a batch as soon as you have the time. It does not take much time actually, the indispensable bread machine does all the kneading and the first proving for you, all you have to do is to prepare the filling and caramel and shape the buns, that's all!

The dough is mixed in the bread machine, after the first proving, when the cycle is completed, take the dough out from the bread pan and on a lightly floured work surface, roll it out to 12" x 10" (longest nearest to you), spread with the filling, roll it up tightly like a swissroll, seams side down. Cut into 12 pieces of 1" each.

Mix the caramel ingredients and pour into the greased pan, here I use 9"x9" pan, even though the book calls for 8"x8", but I cannot fit all 12 pieces in the 8" pan, so I switched to the 9" pan instead. Place all 12 pieces, spiral side up on the caramel in the pan. I was a bit worried that the caramel seems to be so watery and the buns are literally "soaked" in it. The caramel is visible in the spaces in between the buns. But I supposed it will be all dried up and the sugar will be caramelized with the heat in the oven. Cover and leave to rise while you preheat the oven.

The risen buns after about 30 minutes, and they really puffed, so the caramel is not visible now! Bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes. It does not look attractive, do they? But wait till you taste it!

Leave the buns in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then invert it onto a plate. There, it looks glossy and sticky with the caramel underneath. Leave to cool a little before eating.

One lovely bun and a cup of tea.

I could hardly wait to try a bite. Oh my, the buns are so fluffy, soft and light. So good!

Can you see how fluffy and soft this bun is?

Instead of biting into the bun, I love to tear it to small pieces, just to feel the fluffiness and pop the little piece into the mouth! Tear and pop, tear and pop! :) Look at that orange peel, simply delightful!

There were four pieces left and the next day we ate three, the buns was still soft and it gets a little more sweeter, and to test whether would it stay soft on the third day, I kept one piece and yes, it was still soft, though not as fluffy, but still so soft! This is the best sticky bun I've made, much softer and fluffier than the Glazed Cinnamon Buns I made last month which is really good, but this Orange-Caramel Sticky Buns came out tops, for me!  This is indeed a keeper recipe, I would love to try with other flavours, coffee and chocolate chips! I'm looking forward to try the other recipes from this book! Did you know that there will be a new book, to be released in September 2012 by Judith Fertig, "I Love Cinnamon Rolls".  Rolls and sticky buns, all in one book! If her rolls and buns are as good as these, I'll be one of the first to queue in line! 

I'm sharing this with :
BYOB - Bake Your Own Bread hosted by Girlichef
Cookbook Sundays hosted by Couscous & Consciousness
Full Plate Thursday hosted by Miz Helen's Country Cottage
Bake with Bizzy hosted by Bizzy Bakes


Orange-Caramel Sticky Buns
(adapted from " The Artisan Bread Machine" by Judith Fertig)
Makes  12 rolls
Equipment :
~ bread machine with a 1-1/2-lb(750g) capacity
~ 8-inch (20cm) square metal baking pan, greased
~ rolling pin


Ingredients
For The Buns :
1/4 cup granulated sugar 
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs, beaten
6 tbsp lukewarm buttermilk
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I use bread flour)
1-1/2 tsp instant or bread machine yeast


Sweet Orange Filling :
1/4 cup granulated sugar (I use 1/8 cup), if you like it really sweet, use the original amount
2 tsp grated orange zest
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened


Orange Caramel :
6 tbsp packed light or dark brown sugar (I use 4 tbsp)
1 tsp grated orange zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup toffee candy bits (optional)

1. Add sugar, salt, eggs, buttermilk and butter to the bread pan. Spoon flour on top of liquid. Add yeast.
2. Select the Dough cycle and press Start.
3. Filling : In a small bowl, using a fork, combine sugar, orange zest, salt and butter until smooth. Set aside.
4. Caramel : In another bowl, combine brown sugar, orange zest, orange juice and butter until smooth. Spread in prepared pan. Top with toffee bits (if using)
5. When the cycle is finished, transfer dough to a floured surface and punch down gently. Roll into a 12 by 10-inch (30x25cm) rectangle, with a long edge closest to you. Spread filling over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch (1cm) perimeter along each long edge. Lightly brush the long edge farthest from you with water. Starting with the long edge closest to you, roll dough into a tight cylinder and pinch seam to seal. Using dental floss or a sharp knife, cut cylinder into 1-inch (2.5cm) slices. Place slices, sprial side up, on the caramel in the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise while the oven is preheating. Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until risen and lightly browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of a roll registers 190F (90C). Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Loosen rolls from sides of pan and invert onto a serving platter. Serve warm.

kitchen flavours notes :

• I used a 9" pan
• I use less sugar for the filling and caramel, as above
• I replace the all-purpose flour with bread flour
• Instead of buttermilk, I substitute with 4 tablespoons homemade yoghurt and 2 tablespoons milk, mixed them well together
• did not use the toffee candy bits

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There will be a new baking event starting from April 2012. We will be baking from "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas. You are welcome to join us. Please click The Home Bakers for more details.

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

I can't believe that my last ice cream post was more than four months ago! Yup, did not make any ice cream at all during these four months .... until my son requested me to buy some ice cream!!  So I told him, why don't I make some....well, promise is a promise and here it is, creamy and delicious Toasted Coconut Ice Cream.  

There's no coconut milk in this ice cream, the coconut flavours are from the shredded coconut flakes. They are first toasted till brown, crispy and fragrant. These are then added into the mixture of warmed milk, cream, sugar, vanilla seeds and pod and some salt, cover and leave for about an hour to infuse the flavour. I left mine for about 3 hours as I needed to go out for an errand that day, but I think that it really makes the flavour more pronounced by soaking it longer. The mixture is then strained over a strainer set over another bowl with the remaining cream. The egg based custard is then cooked as per instructions in the recipe below, I use only 4 egg yolks instead of 5.

 

David says to discard the strained coconut flakes, but when I tasted the flakes, they are sweet and the coconut flavour are still very "coconut-ty", they are in fact still very tasty, why waste it? I kept the strained coconut flakes in a container and store it in the fridge to eat it together with the ice cream later. 

The Toasted Coconut Ice Cream sprinkled over the top with the coconut flakes speckled with vanilla seeds and some canned pineapple cubes which I bought for something else, but seems perfect with this ice cream! A perfect pairing for a tropical flavoured ice cream! The ice cream is creamy, with just the right amount of coconut flavour and it really is delicious!  I did reduce the sugar to 1/3 cup and I can taste the sweetness alright, but not overly sweet, just right. And do not skip the salt, I think the salt really brings out all the flavours together. Another wonderful ice cream dessert from David Lebovitz!

I'm sharing this with :
Cookbook Sundays hosted by Couscous & Consciousness
Full Plate Thursday hosted by Miz Helen's Country Cottage


Toasted Coconut Ice Cream
(adapted from "The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz)
1 cup (70gm) dried shredded coconut, preferably unsweetened
1 cup (250ml) whole milk
2 cups (500ml) heavy cream
3/4 cup (150gm) sugar (I use 1/3 cup)
Big pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
5 large egg yolks (I use 4)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, or 1 teaspoon rum

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and bake for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring it frequently so it toasts evenly. Remove it from the oven when it's nice and fragrant and golden brown.
2. In a medium saucepan, warm the milk, 1 cup (250ml) of the heavy cream, sugar, and salt and add the toasted coconut. Use a paring knife, and scrape all the vanilla seeds into the warm milk, then add the pod as well. Cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
3. Rewarm the coconut-infused mixture. Set a mesh strainer over another medium saucepan and strain the coconut-infused liquid through the strainer into the saucepan. Press down on the coconut very firmly with a flexible rubber spatula to extract as much of the flavor from it as possible. Remove the vanilla bean pieces (rinse and reserve them for another use), and discard the coconut.
4. Pour the remaining 1 cup (250ml) heavy cream into a large bowl and set the mesh strainer on top. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm coconut-infused mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
5. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scrapping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Mix in the vanilla or rum and stir until cool over an ice bath.
6. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

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There will be a new baking event starting from April 2012. You are welcome to join us, to find out more, please click The Home Bakers.