BBA Challenge Ciabatta: This Bread Has Expensive Tastes

Ciabatta, All Cuddled In Its Couche

When I first began this bread baking hobby, I was certain it would be a very frugal pursuit -- perfect for the recession and my new status as a (mostly) stay at home mom. Indeed, unlike some of my hobbies (Triathlon, I'm looking at you!), baking has required very little equipment acquisition. So far, I've only invested in a plastic dough scraper and a single yard of linen for a couche. Total cash outlay: $13.10

But it turns out that my bread has expensive tastes. As soon as it pops out of the oven, it starts demanding things. Not unlike the proverbial buns that popped out of my own personal oven.

First, it was the bagels. They cried out for lox. Not just lox-flavored cream cheese. The real deal. Then it was the brioche. It insisted on being slathered with the finest European butters. And now, the ciabatta. I was at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market on Saturday morning when I wandered beneath the tent of the Happy Girl Kitchen Co., home to all good things pickled and preserved. There, I tasted the most deliciously tart, deep-red raspberry jam. I thanked the friendly jam person for the sample, disposed of my biodegradable tasting spoon in the proper receptacle, and began to walk away. But before I could, I heard a little voice saying, "Pleeease. It's my favorite!" Yes, it was the ciabatta talking. (I may be slightly disturbed). Who was I to deny the ciabatta its one true desire? So I plunked down $10 and walked away with a tall, slender jar of jam carefully cradled in my cloth grocery sack.




And the ciabatta was happy.

Who knows what those cinnamon buns are going to ask for?