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[Opening jingle]
Hi and welcome to The Bread Kitchen.
Today, I'm going to make a slipper out of dough
or what the Italians call: Ciabatta.
The first thing I need to do is a starter or what's known as a biga
and for that I've got 240 g of strong white flour.
A teaspoon of yeast added to half a cup of lukewarm water.
I'm gonna add the water into the flour a bit at a time and mix it in.
Don't worry. I'm always throwing my whisks around! Makes me feel more...
...Italian!
What you're looking for is to add in enough water to make a firm dough.
It's not at all sticky. It's quite firm.
Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 5 minutes until it's nice and elastic.
Once it's nice and smooth and elastic,
pop it into a lightly oiled bowl,
cover it with some plastic film and leave it in a warm place overnight.
Here's my biga. The reason it's called biga is because it gets bigga!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...
Here I've got 2 teaspoons of yeast which I've suspended in 250 ml of water.
I'm gonna mix this altogether.
You might need to whisk it to make it smooooooth.
Once it is nice and smooth, add in 3 tablespoons of milk.
Gradually, mix in 340 g of strong flour.
Dee-dee-dee-dee... Oh, this is lovely and messy!
You can have great fun with the kids with this.
What you'll end up with is this incredibly... sticky, wet dough!
Add in a teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil
and mix that in.
It's really sticky but make sure it's well mixed by pulling the bottom up to the top and pressing it in.
Right. I think I'm done here.
'Cause the hardest part is getting it off your hands.
I'll transfer the dough to a nice, clean, oiled bowl.
I'll cover it and leave it in a nice, warm place until it's doubled in size.
[gibberish]
Look! It's got a little knobbly bit on the side.
I just take off this plastic. ... [whispers]
OK. That's looking quite good. I'm gonna take that away
and replace it with a very well floured baking sheet
and then I'm gonna pour about half the dough onto this sheet 'cause I'm gonna make two Ciabattas.
The reason I'm making two is obviously because you have to have slippers in pairs!
Quite tricky this bit, actually.
Cut it with a spoon or a knife or something.
Alrighty.
I've covered my hands in flour.
I'm just gonna pour this into a longish shape
and press it out to about an inch thick.
I'm not gonna knock the dough back.
I want to keep whatever air is in there.
[rubs hands together]
OK. I'll do the same with the other half of the dough.
I'll sprinkle these with flour
and then just leave them in a warm place for about half an hour to rise.
These are just lovely so now I'm gonna stick them in my fan oven
at 190 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes.
After about 20 minutes, your slippers should be this lovely and golden colour.
Now leave them to cool.
This bread is absolutely delicious and has this wonderful open structure inside.
I always think one of the nicest ways to eat Ciabattas is as Bruschetta
and underneath this video there's a link to my recipe for Bruschetta.
I hope you enjoy making your Ciabatta.
Thanks for watching and do join me next time in The Bread Kitchen.
[Closing jingle]