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Wild Mushroom Ciabatta

Recipe information

  • Yield

    makes two 1-pound loaves or 3 smaller loaves

Ingredients

5 dried shiitake or porcini mushrooms, broken into pieces
6 tablespoons water, warm (100°F)
1 pound fresh button or shiitake mushrooms, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
Ciabatta, Poolish Version (page 136) or Ciabatta, Biga Version (opposite)

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Soak the dried mushrooms in the water for 30 minutes (you can do this just prior to making the final dough or the day before). Meanwhile, sauté the fresh mushrooms and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat just until they are soft. Strain off the pan juices and add them to the soaking dried mushrooms. Add salt and pepper to taste to the remaining mushrooms, and set them aside to cool.

    Step 2

    Make the dough as directed in the master formula, adding the dried mushrooms and their juice as you mix the dough and using as much liquid as is necessary to make a soft, sticky dough.

    Step 3

    Proceed as described in the poolish verson. When you perform the 2 stretch-and-fold turns, sprinkle one-quarter of the sautéed fresh mushrooms (or less, if you are making 3 smaller loaves) over each piece of dough each time and fold them in. If any fall out, simply add them in the next time or slip them between the folds.

  2. Commentary

    Step 4

    Probably the most popular bread among my students is wild mushroom ciabatta. I included an excellent formula for this in Crust & Crumb, but have developed a new technique for making this and other flavored variations using the new formulas in this book. Here are three examples, but there are no limits to the options.

The Bread Baker's Apprentice
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