I made bread yesterday! Well two breads actually, I feel like superwoman or Wonder Woman (whoever is better, go with it 😉)
I tried my hand at making ciabatta and focaccia yesterday and let me tell you, it was fun. I thought I only enjoyed baking desserts but I might just have found another love
Maybe, it's because they weren't so hard to make. It was a long process (especially for the ciabatta) but so worth it in the end. The smell of the focaccia as it comes out the oven is just beautiful! The things God inspires us to invent, wow! Just wow
Anyway, let me take you through my experience
I started the ciabatta on Saturday evening, while I was watching the Olympics, but actually baked it Monday evening. Very long prep time. I first made the biga, which is a fermented sponge I think. I then left it at room temperature for 24 WHOLE HOURS! Yes, you read that right.
Then, I added to biga in my stand mixer bowl along with all the other dough ingredients, on Monday morning. After all the mixing, my dough wouldn't rise after almost 2 hours. I was ready to give up because I was making the focaccia dough at the same time. But Google came to the rescue! Apparently, my biga was too cold so the yeast didn't activate
After I corrected my silly self, I was good to go. I allowed the dough to rise for 3 hours and folded the dough twice in that time. Then I was ready to bake. I divided the dough in two; I fully baked one and half baked the other
The focaccia was a lot easier. All the ingredient went in together and I enjoyed kneading the dough by hand though. I let it rise once then place in my pan, poked & drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, and left it to rest for 15mins before baking. The focaccia came out a little thin so I couldn't make a sandwich with, so I'll be trying that one again later this week. Wish me luck
PS. I actually did both breads again last night and the results were definitely a lot better 😊
All in all, this was a good experience for me. Plus, I can't stop munching on the focaccia ( I'm not sure how good that is for my non existent abs. Oh well)
Well, that's my adventure for the week. I think I'm done for a while (she says as she searches more bread recipes...)
Do you make your own bread? If you do, please tell me how you store it to keep it fresh
Until next week,
Luchi
Labels: bread, chicken, ciabatta, crunchy salad, focaccia, French, homemade, Luchi Bakes, sandwich, tuna
