2nd ciabatta from BBA today, made from the poolish pre-ferment i made last night. the good news is, it tastes good. hey--it's fresh-baked bread, so that's almost a given. the crust also had a deeper color than the biga version. but...i can't really taste any difference between them. it also puffed up more than i'd expected--even more than the biga version--and the crust is soft and the crumb lacks the big holes it's supposed to have, though it performed slightly better in this respect than the biga version. so, in short, i pronounce the poolish version very, very slightly better than the biga. but i have to say that, honestly, the ciabatta i made a couple of weeks ago was far better than these two, and it only took one day. maybe because the dough was so much wetter than these two today. the doughs today were very, very soft and somewhat difficult to work with, but that other dough was so wet that it was almost impossible to work with. so, maybe i just need to make sure the dough is wetter.
6 comments:
interesting... what sort of a taste does polish ciabatta have? Tart? Sweet? I've been on a polish kick since Chicago, and'm curious...
If you learn how to make perogies I'd be willing to pay handsome for the privilege of eating some... hint hint...
well, the word is poolish, not polish, though it is out of respect of the polish bread bakers that the french gave the pre-ferment this name. this particular ciabatta--and it's brother, made with the italian pre-ferment biga--tastes...okay. i could see a polish version by incorportating some carmelized onions and mushrooms and some mashed potato folded into the dough. and figure out a way to use sour cream in place of the water in the dough...then you'd really have a polish ciabatta! (oh, and a little dill. the poles love dill.)
hahaha, "very, very slightly better"? :D
interesting... "poolish" from the french "pouliche" (thanks to google)...
i think the true-polish version is worth trying, esp while the weather up there is so cold... ain't nuthin like polish food to warm the beers.
btw, looking at the photo more closely -- that's van gogh's starry night under the bread, right? Is that a tablecloth or ceramic glaze on your dining room table? Just curious...
indeed it is, snork--good eye! it's actually a tempered glass cutting board, a gift from my lovely spousal unit. i'm a van gogh fan, and this was one of my favorite christmas gifts.
-jb
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