Bland-Tasting Ciabatta - Peter Reinhart Recipe

May I recommend posting this to alt.bread.recipes? Many of the experienced "lean dough" bakers there also read this group, but Reinhart and his recipes are discussed there often. You can also try google groups to see past posts and perhaps find something specific to this recipe that might help.

I did made this ciabatta recipe a couple of times and was not interested enough in the results to try to tweak it to perfect it for my own use, but I am sure there are some who can help your further. You might also want to try the recipe again, just to make sure something did not go awry (bread pun - they are hard to resist) by accident the one time you made it.

If you have any interest in sourdough, rec.food,sourdough is another groups you might be interested in reading.

Boron

There are several possible issues here. One is that poolish is best used after it just subsides. That is, it rises to a peak and then starts to collapse. You can see contractions, or wrinkles, in its surface. I think you let the poolish work way too long. Usually 12 to

18 hours is about right. You were up around fifty some odd. You risk getting some serious off flavors.

Also, on the thermometer front, you should get two. One is a quick reading thermometer to check the temp of ingredients, doughs, poolishes, starters, roasts, and loaves of bread. You should also get an oven thermometer. It is amazing how far off many oven thermostats are. And, when you get an oven thermometer, you need to check how long it takes you oven to get to the desired temperature, how far off it is for different temperatures you use, and how well it holds temperatures.

I have found that oven thermostats are often off by different amounts at different temperatures, so it can be off 25 degrees at 350 but 100 at

450. And, many ovens don't hold temperatures well.

If your oven doesn't hold a temperature well, or if your thermostat is off, clean your oven and then make sure that the thermostat's sensor is not touching the wall of the oven.

Finally, most of bread's flavor is in the crust. If it is too light, or too thin, you won't get ful flavor. Many Americans are afraid to let the bread get too dark. Many more are afraid to buy bread if the crust is too dark. Both are missing out on much of the greatest joys of bread.

Good luck, Mike

I am interested in your statement "...most of the bread's flavor is in the crust...." No matter what crust I end up with; i.e., light, medium, dark, my crust taste NEVER is tasty to me. It always has a slightly bitter taste. Sometimes I've wondered if it is the water I'm using to spray the oven with; my oven isn't clean enough and the crust takes on the oven smell; the pan in the oven that I pour hot water in for steam might not be the correct metal, such as iron vs. stainless? It doesn't matter what flour I use, it always has this taste to me. I use mostly King Arthur flour nowadays, but when I wasn't, it was the same. Sometimes I make biga, polish, other called for "starters," but it is always the same -- just can't figure it out. When I buy bread from markets; i.e., Wegman's, Whole Foods, it doesn't have this bitter taste. Dee

Start by getting the thermometers and cleaning your oven. Also, it is a matter of taste. Europeans love breads that most Americans think are burned. Dr. Calvel dedicates a lot of his book to encouraging people to bake bread longer.

So, is it burned, or just not to your taste?

Well.... get the temperature under control, get the oven cleaned (I like the lye free easy-off), and then see what happens.

Mike

It happens whether or not my oven is clean -- I use the automatic oven cleaner. I do use thermometers in oven, and often when making the bread. The bread crust whether very dark brown to medium brown always tastes bitter to me. My husband doesn't notice it as much as I do. So many times I actually don't eat the crust. And I LOVE crust! Dee

For the sole purpose of research on the above subject, I bought two Ciabatta rolls yesterday, each in a different gourmet market with a fine bakery department, Agata & Valentina and Citarella.

I tasted half of each yesterday, first just the roll and then with unsalted butter and Italian Fontina cheese. Neither roll had much, if any taste, but it was nice and fresh and I liked the consistency of the dough and with the addition of the butter and cheese it was very enjoyable. I drank a glass of Mondavi Merlot with it.

I had the second halves for brunch today. I toasted the rolls, as they were quite dry this morning. They still had not much taste, at least none I could identify, but with butter and a very special Prize Winning Peach Jam, it was delicious. I guess it is the crunch more than anything else I liked.

Perhaps Ciabatta Bread is not supposed to have much flavor?

Ciabatta bread gains much fame as the two slices of bread holding together many sandwiches with many varying ingredients. That is the only way that I use this bread. For me, I am not looking for a bread that deflects from the fillings.

Alan

I think ciabatta most certainly has a flavor...perhaps it comes from different ingredients, say, olive oil or milk that is used sometimes, but I find it to be avery flavorful bread. At least with my ciabatta, it was definitely not as tasteful as ciabatta I've had from some bakeries around town.

I kind of liken ciabatta to a less-dense and wider (typically) french bread. I also think the flavor of ciabatta leans more towards the "savory" side.

There is an excellent web site, one of whose creators posts to Usenet, that has extensive writing about ciabatta, as well as other Italian breads and foods. They are a fine source of information and may give you some hints or you may find a recipe that is more to your liking than Reinhart's.

This will take you right to their main bread page.

did read in one of your post (IIRC) that you used a half recipe.Sometimes, when trying a bread recipe for the first time, it can betricky to halve the ingredients. Something may have not worked wellbecause of that.

In addition to suggestions others have made, there are any number of reasons why a loaf fails and, as anyone who bakes bread regularly can tell you, sometimes you can tell what went wrong and sometimes it remains a mystery as the next time the recipe is used, everything works. Flour and water are quite cheap and though we invest our time and efforts, the experimenting can be fun. It can take awhile to perfect a recipe, even when it comes from a book or author that is a trusted source.

If you wish to conquer the Reinhart recipe, forge on, or try another that may result in something more to your tastes.

Boron