Susan Bissland

I tried this recipe because my teens go through a lot of ciabatta rolls for their bacon, egg & cheese sandwiches. The original recipe is good, but after making it several times, I've continued to tweak it to make it a robust flavorful ciabatta with the rustic nooks & crannies.I increased the yeast for the Biga to 1/4 teaspoon.For the bread, I added 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and 2 teaspoons of salt. The most dramatic change was using a higher protein bread flour. Also a few techniques that help make the air bubbles:*Gently pour the 2/3 cup of warm water directly into the Biga bowl to re-hydrate it before transferring to the mixing bowl*Add only 1 cup of flour with everything else initially, mix until incorporated, then let "rest" for a few minutes, letting the yeast to start feeding again. Add another 1/2 cup until incorporated, let rest again before adding the remainder. Then knead for about 8 minutes, and transfer to an oiled bowl, and cover with a damp towel. (I turn my oven light on, which makes the oven a little warmer, and set it in there)*Let the dough rise for 50 minutes, then take out and do a "fold". Reaching from the bottom of the ball, take a portion, stretch it up, and fold it over the top, pressing it down in the center. Repeat this around the ball about 8 times. Cover it and let it rest again for another 50 minutes. Fold again, recover and again rest for about an hour. This helps the yeast to continue to feed, and the "bubbles" get larger.*Take the dough out and gently shape. For the rolls, I gently shape a rectangle, then using a sharp paring knife, cut the shapes, so I'm not tearing and ripping the dough apart, popping bubbles.*I brush them with melted butter to keep them hydrated/protected while I'm letting the oven heat (covering them always ends up as a disaster with me, sometimes deflating them when I try to peel the towel off) I don't let them re-rise for long during this step, since they had already rose for about 3 hours between the folding*I use my turkey pan, fill it with an inch or so of water and place it on the bottom rack while the oven is heating. It creates a nice steam bath prior to popping the tray in the oven.I know it sounds like a lot, but it's really just adding the flour slowly during kneading, and doing a couple of folds while rising. And a little extra olive oil & salt. [Now I need to work on even sizing]

I'm not sure how to rate the original recipe since I veered off quite a bit, but they did turned out yummy, and now people keep asking me to make it for them.I used 2 packages of active yeast, and proofed it first.*2 tsp of salt*2 tbl of olive oil for flavor*5 cups of bread flourAfter making the dough and putting it in the bowl to rise, folding the dough over itself every 10 minutes, about 2 or 3 times, helps to keep the yeast "feeding", and creates the lighter airy center.I put a pan of water on the bottom rack in the oven while it's preheating, so it's nice and steamy when it hits temperature.I didn't egg wash, but I brushed the dough with melted butter, & garlic salt with herbs. This also kept the dough from drying out, so I didn't put a towel over them while the oven was heating up.They came out very flavorful, light on the inside and crispy on the outsideUpdate: After making them a few times, I started laminating by lightly brushing the rolled out dough with either butter or olive oil, and a little garlic salt, then rolled. The flavor and air pockets are amazing.

My teens eat a copious amount of chicken sliders. The slider buns-of-choice are potato buns. These homemade buns took the sliders to the next level.I did use the ready-made single serving Bob Evan mashed potatoes , which I always have handy.I also used butter flavored shortening, since that's all I had in the kitchen.I did do a butter wash after I formed the buns, mostly to keep the dough from drying out while they were rising and the oven was heating. (Draping with plastic wrap or a towel always seems to destroy the rise with stick-age.)This batch didn't make it to sandwiches, they ate them straight out of the oven...with a little butter and garlic salt.

My teens love these! I gave it only 4 stars because it needed a little tweeking. I found using bread flour worked a little better, and 5 cups of flour was way too much, I used about 4 1/4 cups of flour. I also took the oven temp down to 420 degrees. After the soda bath, I brushed them with butter, then an egg wash for a nice shiny finish.I again brushed butter on them when they came out of the oven. I am now asked to make these regularly.