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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Drunken Ciabatta


I loved the taste of fermented apples too much in this bread not to try again at the first opportunity. This time, I had not only apples but a few pears that were decidedly past their prime. I peeled and sliced the whole lot and set it to marinate for 5 days with some water and a sprinkle of sugar. Then my guests from France arrived and with them, a whirlwind of sightseeing and no time for baking. So I stuck the fermented mixture in the fridge where it rested for a week.
When time came to travel with our guests to our summer cabin on the St-Lawrence river, I packed the whole thing into a glass jar and took it with us in the cooler. Meanwhile I had finally developed my very favorite ciabatta recipe and started making it almost daily to satisfy multiple hungry stomachs here on the river. That gave me the idea of incorporating the fermented fruit (which tasted deliciously boozy) and its juice in the dough to make a new and inebriating breakfast bread. The Drunken Ciabatta was born.
For ingredients and method, please refer to the ciabatta recipe below.
I used all the leftover apples and pears I had (about 4 of each, i.e. 684 g after peeling and coring). I sliced them up and put them to macerate with 100 g sugar and 84 g water (I would have used organic apple or pear juice if I had any at hand but I didn't). I covered the bowl and left it at room temp for one week, stirring it vigorously once a day.
At the end of the process, after fermentation and straining, I had 380 g fruit and 406 g juice.
I replaced most of the water in the ciabatta by the fermented juice (I didn't have quite enough to replace it all) and I incorporated the fruit at the very last moment when the dough was already well developed and hydrated.

The taste is out of this world, so much so that I now have standing orders (from family and friends) for all kinds of fruit ciabattas. The next one will be blueberry. Stay tuned!
The Drunken Ciabatta goes to Susan, from Wild Yeast, for Yeastpotting.








7 comments:

  1. OMG, never thought of putting this in a ciabatta! Sounds delicious!!

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  2. MC, that is absolutely fab.

    shiao-ping

    p.s. Drunken anything, what a great name!

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  3. I bet the flavor was amazing.

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  4. Whoa! This could be the start of a whole nother thing (as they say in Texas!). Nice - gon'na do it!

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  5. Wow, MC, you have outdone yourself (again)!

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  6. @Miriam, stay tuned for more flavored ciabattas. Now that I know it can be done, the sky is the limit!
    @Shiao-Ping, I like drunken anything too (except drunken people, especially behind the wheel).
    @mimicooks, yes, it was incredible.I wish I could share some over the Internet.
    @John, keep me posted!
    @Susan, thank you!
    @Madam Chow, you are welcome any time. Just say when!

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