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π The perfect bread for sandwiches
Published about 2 months agoΒ β’Β 3 min read
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The perfect bread for sandwiches
Imagine yourself in the kitchen with a freshly baked loaf of ciabatta, a bowl of ultra-ripe tomatoes from the garden, some provolone cheese, and a few leaves of basil.
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For me, that's the perfect late-summer setting, and ciabatta is the bread I turn to time and again when I have an abundance of peak tomatoes.
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The soft-ish crust and light and creamy crumb are the perfect platform for piling large tomato slices (and a few slices of prosciutto, if you have 'em). This is the kind of sandwich I dream about all year long.
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I recently updated my ciabatta recipe and have been pulling out some gorgeous loaves:
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These are great for sandwiches, but I also love them sliced shortways to place on the table for dipping in olive oil, balsamic, salt, and pepper.
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Read on!
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In this week's newsletter:
Recipes: Ciabatta, zucchini bread, whole-grain spelt pan loaf, Pane Siciliano
Tool & Guide: Water temp calculator; Bake better breadβby tasting
Baking Tip: Use a spray bottle for steam!
Links: Fancy a pizza cone?
π Sourdough Ciabatta
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Now's the time of year when I'm working hard on maximizing sandwiches in my kitchenβand my sourdough ciabatta is always first up to bat. I recently updated the recipe significantly, now it:
Is much easier to handle
Has flexible flour choices (loving Khorasan, but whole hard red wheat rocks too)
Has options for same-day baking, or retard the dough for more flexibility
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With tomato season in full swing, it's prime time for this bread.
βYes, this is awesome banana bread, but it's equally great when you swap out the banana for zucchini. If you find yourself with zucchini everywhere, this is your (delicious) solution!
Spelt became a staple in my kitchen years ago, and I just can't get enough. These days, it finds its way into many of my bread recipes (like this one!), but I especially love it at 100% whole wheat, like in this pan loaf.
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If you're looking for a subtly week, healthful, and downright tasty pan loaf, this is the one.
Temperature control...you know it's everything in bread baking, right?
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I've just given my water temperature calculator a fresh makeover to make it more user-friendly. Simply plug in your kitchen temperature, flour temperature, starter temperature, and target dough temperature (listed in all my recipes), and it will tell you exactly how to adjust your water.
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Dead simple! Bookmark it and hit perfect dough temps every single time.
In this guest post, Graison Gill explores the proper way to taste bread. He guides us in engaging our senses, eating the right parts of the loaf at the right time, and correctly evaluating our sensations to become better bakers.
Join the community at The Perfect Loaf and receive my baking tools and spreadsheets, exclusive discounts, a vast recipe archive (featuring scalable and adaptable recipes), real-time chatting with other bakers and me in the community, and access to the website completely ad-free.
I always have a food-safe spray bottle of water nearby in the kitchen. When I have an issue mixing the dough and need to add very small amounts of water (not a bassinage), I spritz the dough using that sprayer. It's a super-easy way of getting just a touch more water in the dough without the risk of going overboard.
I loved this email from Mary because it highlighted something I also have in my kitchen: a water spray bottle! It seems simple, but after reading her comments, I realized how often I use my spray bottle. Not only is it useful when mixing, as she says, but I also use mine to: β
Add steam to the oven when baking
Lightly spritz the top of the resting preshaped dough before rolling in oats, seeds, or other toppings (so they stick)
Keep resting the dough moist so a skin doesn't form
Want to make bakery-quality sourdough bread from home? Subscribe for the best sourdough guides and recipes to take your bread from ordinary to incredible.
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