Somehow it completely escaped my brain to put this post up yesterday, oops – maybe I’ll just blame it on the heat wave.
But the heat aside I was able to make this week’s recipe over the weekend, and am not overly impressed with the results, but would definitely try it again with some tweaks. There is a lot of resting/rising time with this recipe, first with the sponge:
And then with the two rises after the rest of the ingredients are in and the loaf shaped. (I was able to run to Ikea in between one rise to pick out the new bathroom fixtures for our almost-renovated bathroom in our lofted area – yippee!) I had read others’ comments about the saltiness and the stickiness, but for some reason I totally forgot when putting it all together (did I mention the heat we’re experiencing?) and didn’t cut the salt.
So the result was a ciabatta-shaped, slightly overly salty loaf for my taste, but I have to say when I toasted it and topped it with some hummus and slices of tomato (sans salt) for lunch the other day that was a pretty good balance. But I don’t know that I’d use it for my morning toast and jam.
If you’re interested in the recipe check out the fabulous hosts for this week: Anna of Keep it Luce and Renee of The Way to My Family’s Heart! Or better yet buy the book: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan!
I read about the salt issue and forgot as well. I’m wondering if maybe this is more like a ciabatta bread like a fellow baker mentioned. The last rise seemed to fall flat for a lot of us.
Congrats on the new bathroom – that is good stuff. And so jealous you can “run” to Ikea. I think our closest one is about 3 hrs away
The flat bread issue seemed common – but they all look good!
Thanks, Cher – we are so fortunate to have Ikea close by!