I finally did it! I converted my favorite fresh milled Italian bread dough into a wonderful sourdough version. It’s perfectly soft on the inside with a chewy and crust crust, especially crusty when toasted. You’re going to just love it! Using the mixer, makes this process quick and easy, with very little hands on time. My style sourdough. The best part? The recipe is exactly the same for both Sourdough Ciabatta & Italian bread, the only difference is in how we shape and bake the dough.
How to Prepare the Dough
First, start your kettle. We will need 50 grams of boiling water for our yudane, which helps hold in the moisture required for a loaf like this. It’s also what allows you to skip the vital wheat gluten and still get a decent loaf.
Next, we will mill the flour. While the flour is milling, take 25 grams of the flour and add it to a small mixing bowl. Pour the boiling water over it from the last step, and use a spatula to stir the two together. Add this to your mixer’s mixing bowl. Then add the liquid and all other ingredients to the mixing bowl except the flour and the starter.
Add the starter to the mixing bowl, and finally add the remaining flour. Mix with the dough hook until the bowl comes clean. I do this at the highest speed for 2 to 3 minutes, before lowering the speed and mixing for another 10 or until the bowl comes clean. If you are using a kitchen aid mixer, knead for 2 minutes, let the dough rest for 15-20 minutes, and then mix for another 2 minutes.
Remove the dough from the mixer bowl and place it in a lightly oiled proofing vessel. I prefer a glass jar with straight sides that’s large enough to handle the doubling of the dough.
Place the dough in a warm location. For me this is on top of my Excalibur dehydrator. Once the dough has risen by 50 percent, I’ll take it out and shape it.
Shaping an Italian Bread Loaf
Spread the dough out into a rectangle gently, being careful to not fully remove all the bubbles. Gently fold one side into th center, and then the other side. You will now have a long narrow rectangle. Roll it up, short end to short end. Place it seam side up on your floured banner on basket, and stitch up the seam. Place a shower cap or cover over it, and place it in a warm place to rise while the oven preheats to 450 F. If the dough is jiggly, you can turn it out onto a baking surface and bake it with steam for 25 minutes before lowering the temperature to 400 F and baking with foil over the top of the loaf (to avoid burning of the crust) another 20 minutes.
Shaping Ciabatta Rolls
Gently spread the dough out into a large rectangle. Cut the dough with a bench scraper into 12 rectangles. For higher rising rolls, gently lift from the center of the rectangle as though doing a coil fold, and lay the dough onto parchment. For more traditional, rough edges, transfer the cut rectangles to the parchment unshaped. Let them rise while the oven preheats to 450 F convection for darker rolls. Bake without convection for lighter rolls. Bake with steam for both – 15 minutes with convection or 20-25 minutes without convection.
Cooling and Storing
Let cool with air all around for 3 hours if making an Italian loaf, and for 30 minutes for rolls. Store in a paper bag to maintain the crust, or in plastic to soften it. Whatever you do don’t slice that Italian loaf until it is fully cooled.
Alright, without further ado – here is the best baguette recipe for fresh milled flour you’ll ever come across. Why? Because it uses the whisk, which helps make this dough light and airy without a spiral mixer. If you want extra rise, you can add 1 tbsp of vital wheat gluten, but it’s not needed at all. This will be your go-to baguette and crostini recipe.
Sourdough Ciabatta & Italian Bread
Ingredients
- 310 grams hard white wheat
- 100 grams durum or Khorasan
- 350 grams water
- 50 grams boiling water for yudane
- 9 grams sea salt
- 200 grams active sourdough starter
- 10 Grams lemon juice optional
- ⅛ tsp barley malt powder optional
- 2 tbsp vital wheat gluten if leaving this out, decrease water by 25 grams
Instructions
- Start tea kettle or boil water.
- Mill the flour
- Prepare the yudane by mixing 30 grams of your flour from above with boiling water to form a paste.
- Add all ingredients to the mixing bowl, with yudane being the first ingredient followed by the remaining water. This cools the yudane down so it doesn’t kill the sourdough starter when that is added to the bowl.
- Mix with the dough hook attachment, first on low to incorporate the flour, then kick it up to high speed for up to 3 minutes. If your mixer can handle longer mixing, mix on lower speed for up to 10 minutes or until the bowl is cleaned. If using a kitchen aid, there should be a fifteen minute rest between mixing sessions.
- Transfer the dough to a proofing bowl, lightly oiled.
- Imagine the dough is a clock face. Grab the dough at 12 o’clock and stretch it up into the air and press it down gently into the center of the clock face. Turn the bowl and do the next number on the clock. Repeat this step until the dough has tightened up and it isn’t stretching as far.
- Let the dough rise until risen by 50%, or approximately 3-6 hours.
- Shape as mentioned above.
- Allow it to rise before baking, and score the top of the loaf if you like for the Italian bread option. If it’s jiggly, I consider that ready to bake.
- Bake at 450 F for 25 minutes with steam for a loaf, followed by 20 minutes at 400 F. For rolls, bake at 450 F convection for 15 minutes with steam or 450 F without convection with steam for 20-25 minutes. Without convection will be lighter rolls.
- Remove from the oven, and let cool on a baking rack.
- Store on the counter cut side down, or in a paper bag for crusty crusts. Plastic bags will be fine for softer crusts.
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