Short-order picnic bread

At very short notice I was asked along to a picnic, and when anything like that happen I curse Indian timing; Indian timing of course being any time that isn't on time or one that gives the least amount of notice.

I needed to bring something and while it'd be easy to go to the shop and buy some pre-packed monstrosities I'd rather spend what little time I have creating something interesting.


I've been meaning to make ciabatta for a while now but I've never quite felt it was the right time. This day though it seemed like just the right time.
I grabbed my trusty copy of Paul Hollywood's How to Bake and got to it.

The ingredients are standard bread fare. Flour, yeast, salt, water and olive oil, so there's no need to break the bank. 

Paul suggests using 10g of yeast, but who's leaving half-open packets of yeast around? I used two packets of 7g and those extra 4g didn't do the bread any harm, but by all means feel free to follow Paul's instructions to the letter.

The dough came together eventually but only after I added more flour. Paul's suggestion of 400g of bread flour was a bit miserly and I was left with sludge. So I just kept adding flour a little bit at a time until I came up with a soft stretchy dough. 

This is the point where you're allowed to go off and do more important things, unless you like sitting in front of the bowl watching your dough rise. This time I'm going to agree with Paul and found two hours were perfect to get a good rise. 

Once you're back doing whatever it is that you were doing, I won't ask, heavily flour your work surface. If you have it throw some semolina flour on too. There's an abundance of that in Indian homes.

Don't forget to pull out your baking trays place some baking parchment, or equivalent, and prepare them the same way you did your work surface.

Tip your dough onto the surface. Paul suggests using a two to three litre tub to put your dough in to rise, but who has one of those on hand? I stuck to my trusty mixing bowl and found it was no less hard to shape my dough into the ciabatta shape. 

I cut mine in half, and then along the length of each piece I cut them again leaving me with four loaves. Put them on your baking trays, stretching them ever so slightly to get that classic shape, and leave them to proof. 

Paul writes to leave them four 20 or so minutes but I left them a little longer until I was sure they held shape and plumped up a bit.   

Once they're ready put them in a pre-heated oven 220C, knock that down 10 degrees if your oven is fan-assisted, and leave them to transform until they're golden. 

If you're not sure your bread is ready just turn one over and give it a tap. If it sounds hollow you're ready to go. 

The ciabatta went down a storm, and were especially delightful with hummus or Boursin smothered all over them. 

All in all it's an easy bread to do and you'll look like a proper baker to those who aren't in the know. When it's this easy why would you ever go to the supermarket and buy an industrially made 'artisan' loaf?