Ciabatta, Baby!

Did everyone see the ciabatta bread recipe over on Ruhlman's site? (btw, all hail Charcutepalooza!)

Ciabatta, baby... that's what I'm talking about. My crumb was pretty good for a first attempt.

Even tho these were the worst written directions I've ever seen (Sorry! Not trying to be a hater they just didn't make sense to me)... this made an awesome bread.  I pieced the steps together with the help of this guy. The trick was working with a super wet dough.

The instructions didn't really tell you how to make the loaf. So here's what I did. You need a heavily floured surface to work with it.  I baked it on parchment, on a pizza sheet, on a baking stone. Got that?

Also, I just can't bring myself to make a loaf of all white flour, so this was 30-40% whole wheat. It turned out very pretty.

Just out of the oven...baked at 425* for 25 minutes

We enjoyed it with a (whole wheat) pasta bake which featured a simmered-all-day-bolognese sauce. And a big glass of red wine, of course.

And now I gotta get the hatches battened down.. we're getting that snow from both the South and the Plains. Tomorrow oughta be a looloo for sure.

Stay warm everyone! And remember, when it cold just crank up the oven and bake something!