Rustic Italian Ciabatta on the MAK

I've posted previously about doing ciabatta rolls on the MAK. They turned out very well so I thought I would give it a try with ciabatta loves.

I followed King Arthur's Rustic Ciabatta recipe today and am just as happy with results. It's a little less work than the roll recipe (which called for proofing in a baker's couche). The loaf recipe just calls for shaping and cutting the dough in half and then placing on parchment paper to rise for 1.5 - 2 hours.

Again the MAK came through and it makes it easier to pour the boiling water into the cast iron skillet, which had been preheating on the MAK for about 30 minutes at approx 500 degrees. You want to close the lid as quick as possible to trap the steam, which is easier done when closing from top to bottom that bottom to top with a standard oven

A few pics:

CI skillet preheating in the MAK:


Almost done:


I was happy with the amount of holes and crust:


Thanks for looking!

rwalters said:

MAK’ing Bread Great Again [emoji631]

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That's a T-shirt ready to happen!

Titch said:

The bread looks very good.
the world has come a long way from cooking bread on a rock next to a fire to a pellet grill.
only took hundreds of years

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And to think that the stand mixers they used were a far cry from our fancy KitchenAids.

Topped the evening off with store bought ready to heat pizzas. What's wrong with this picture?

Or these:

Big George's BBQ said:

Looks fantastic Good bread can be dangerous

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Thanks very much! Since I'm not drinking beer these days good bread is one of my my substitutes.

jkief said:

I’m a baking fool, and I love to bake what the MAK and Yoder.

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I kind of wish I had bought a Yoder instead of a MAK because every time I type the name MAK I have to remember to type in all caps!

4ever3 said:

Bread looks fantastic!!!


(but you used a coma...)

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Yes, yes I did, sorry!

Interesting aside regarding the origins of ciabatta. I always assumed it had been around for ages, but according to many sources including the always accurate Wikipedia:

"Ciabatta bread was first produced in 1982 by Arnaldo Cavallari, who called the bread ciabatta polesana after Polesine, the area he lived in. The recipe was subsequently licensed by Cavallari's company, Molini Adriesi, to bakers in 11 countries by 1999. Cavallari and other bakers in Italy were concerned by the popularity of sandwiches made from baguettes imported from France, which were endangering their businesses, and so set about trying to create an Italian alternative with which to make sandwiches. The recipe for ciabatta came about after several weeks of trying variations of traditional bread recipes and consists of a soft, wet dough made with high gluten flour.

Many regions have their own variations on the original recipe or a bread that closely resembles ciabatta and has become accepted as a variety of ciabatta; the ciabatta from the area encompassing Lake Como has a crisp crust, a somewhat soft, porous texture, and is light to the touch. The ciabatta found in Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche varies from bread that has a firm crust and dense crumb to bread that has a crisper crust and more open texture, and in Rome, it is often seasoned with marjoram.

New variations of the recipe continue to be developed. Wholemeal ciabatta is known as ciabatta integrale, and when milk is added to the dough, it becomes ciabatta al latte."