Recipe#2515

Title: Ciabatta

Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes 
 From: trev@fiveg.icl.co.uk (Trevor Hall) 
 Subject: Ciabatta 
 Message-ID: <9311080738.AA00283@fiveg.icl.co.uk> 
 Date: Mon, 8 Nov 93 07:38:46 GMT 

For four loaves
 12oz / 350g plain flour
 1/4 teaspoon easy blend yeast
 7floz/200ml warm water
 olive oil
 1/2 pint /300ml warm water
 1 tablespoon olive oil
 5 tablespoons warm milk
 1 1/4 lb / 500g plain flour
 1 teaspoon easy blend yeast
 1 tablespoon salt
 cornmeal to dust
 Add yeast to sifted flour and slowly mix in the water. Beat for
 five minutes.  Place in a bowl and brush with olive oil. Cover and
 leave to rise in a warm place until tripled in size (5-24 hours).
 Now chill.
 Stir the warm water, milk and olive oil into the chilled mixture.
 Slowly add this mixture to the 1 1/4 lb of flour, adding the yeast
 and salt.
 Using either a food processor or those at the end of your wrists,
 form into a dough and then knead on a floured surface until springy
 .  Put dough in an oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled
 in size.
 Divide into four and stretch dough into rectangles, pressing flat
 with your knuckles.  Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm
 place for 2 hours.  Pre-heat oven to 220C gas mark 7. Heat baking
 sheets in oven.  Dust baking sheets with cornmeal and place dough
 on top.
 Bake for 25 minutes, sprinkling with water three times during the
 first 10 minutes.