ciabatta

I had another baking adventure yesterday when I made ciabatta for the first time. This is another recipe I found over at Domestic Kate Cooks, and it is delicious! It takes a little while to make and you have to plan ahead because there is an easy starter you have to assemble the night before you want to bake it, but other than that, it is so simple. I had some friends over and we had Pasta Fagoili soup, along with a yummy salad with strawberries and delicious berry parfaits, both made by two of my friends. It was a delicious dinner, and the bread was a nice added touch. This bread would also be great for sandwiches, and the recipe gives instructions for making a great italian sandwich out of it, and also this really wonderful looking garlic bread that I will HAVE to try soon.

One thing to note: this recipe calls for instant yeast, which is different from active dry yeast. Instant yeast is the same as rapid rise or bread machine yeast. You can use active dry yeast but you have to dissolve it first, and I'm not sure what exactly you're supposed to do. I just thought I would mention this, because I did not realize the difference until I was reading the comments on the Bakers' Banter blog about this recipe.

As I've said before, baking somewhat intimidates me, but this is a really doable recipe! Despite making a couple of careless errors during the process, the bread turned out great, and I'll certainly make it again.

Instead of typing out the recipe, here is the the link to both the recipe and the Bakers' Banter blog, which has detailed instructions and pictures of the process.