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A Gorgeous Slice: Ciabatta
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 Ciabatta, a slipper-shaped bread, uses two cups of biga starter dough. - The Observer/BRYAN PEARSON Starters like biga can save a baker time, but much more importantly, biga lends depth of flavor and boosts a bread’s porosity. Some may say bread is bread and eat with no inquisitiveness from loaf to loaf, slice by slice, but I bake bread as a favorite hobby, and bread with an excellent crumb is something to be excited for. Biga will help bakers’ loaves develop big gas bubbles resulting in a gorgeous slice — an indication of a highly-desired chewy texture. Ciabatta, a slipper-shaped bread from Lake Como, is a fine loaf to utilize biga in. The compliant dough feels nice under the baker’s fingers and palms. Your hands will know that the dough is where it should be and therefore everything is right. Rely on Carol Field’s book, “The Italian Baker,” for more on all things bread. From her book, here is the recipe for ciabatta. A loaf made from the recipe recently is pictured on the cutting board above.
Ciabatta
makes four loaves 5 tablespoons warm milk 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons water, room temperature 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 cups biga (recipe follows) 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour 1 tablespoon salt cornmeal, for dusting
1. Stir the yeast into the warm milk and let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. 2. Add water, oil and biga and mix until well blended. 3. Mix the flour and salt together and then add to wet mixture. Mix for 2 to 3 minutes. 4. In a mixer, knead with the dough hook for two minutes at low speed and then 2 minutes at medium speed. (You can do this with a wooden spoon or with your hands, but at this point the dough will be very wet and a mixer works just fine at this point.) 5. On a board, knead briefly, adding as little flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking. Knead until dough is velvety, supple, very springy and moist. 6. Let rise in an oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap or a damp flour sack towel until doubled, about 1 1/4 hours depending on the temperature of the room. 7. Cut dough into four pieces and roll each into a cylinder. Stretch each piece gently into a rectangle about 10 by 4 inches. 8. Flour four pieces of parchment paper a littler bigger than the loaves. Place loaves, seam side up on the papers. Dimple loaves vigorously with fingertips or knuckles to control rising. Cover with damp towels and let rise until doubled, about two hours. 9. Half an hour before baking, preheat the oven with baking stones to 425 degrees. (You can improvise with clean bricks.) Just before baking, sprinkle stones with cornmeal and then gently flip each loaf onto the stone. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, spraying three times with water for the first 10 minutes. (The water creates steam which helps the loaves develop a thick crust. Alternately, you can set up a pan of boiling water under the stone when preheating and that will create a humid oven too.) 10. Cool on racks.
Biga
makes 2 1/3 cups 1/4 cup warm water 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon water, room temperature 2 1/2 cups, all purpose flour
2. Add room temperature water then the flour, one cup at a time. Mix with a wooden spoon for 3 to 4 minutes. 3. Move to a lightly-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for a minimum of six hours and up to 24 hours at a cool room temperature out of the sun. The starter will triple in volume and will be wet, sticky and lacy.
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