Ciabatta

There are certain amounts of repetition in the food industry, trends, the way we work in kitchens and flavors…Last night I was talking to my friends Tim and John about what else, food! Tim mentioned an article about culinary students who don’t go on to follow the path of the hardcore and underpaid into the fire of the frying pan! Anthony Bourdain also touches on this subject in his book, what sort of person it takes to go into this madness! It’s a trend I think, I recall when I first went into this field and reading statistics regarding how the business would be “hot” by the year two thousand! Who said it would ever get cooler?

Trends were what I wanted to focus on in food, or perhaps a branded item (Jonathan, I said branded!) like say balsamic vinegar, tiramisu, foam? Not really caring too much I make tiramisu at work, people are nostalgic and you know it is a classic!

Bread also has its favorites too, who doesn’t eat baguettes or a Jewish rye? So while I was following a thread on Dan Lepards site recently by a fellow forum member, I tried his recipe he had found on a commercial Italian bread site for ciabatta. The first formula I attempted was a good bread but felt a bit doughy, it didn’t have that thin crisp feel or billowy hole ridden interior of what I would call a perfect ciabatta! Never giving up on a challenge and practicing my skills for the bread-baking event of the year! Some of the forum members and I  will participate with in Wales this summer, I tried another formula from another baker (Michaelthebaker, his moniker!)!
I haven’t cut into it yet but the smell and feel are fantastic, it’s fully sourdough I didn’t use any commercial yeast, and as a lazy baker (Steve Sullivan said I should write a book for kids about a lazy baker!) I didn’t feed my stored in the fridge starter for a while; still it’s got some feet left to make it across the line!