January Ciabatta experiment

Welcome to the McMinnville, Oregon Baker's Dozen! Inspired by similar organizations in San Francisco, Salt Lake, and New York, we have decided to bake and share on a monthly basis.

Everyone is welcome; we recommend that you like to make- and eat- baked goods. The meetings are held the first Monday of each month at 7 pm at the Red Fox Bakery, 328 NE Evans Street, McMinnville.

Our January meeting used at recipe from Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking Across America (http://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Baking-Across-America-Recipes/dp/1579651178) . We selected the ciabatta recipe at the December meeting, and were given the assignment of baking the loaf once at home, then bringing it to the bakery and using the Bongard oven.

Each baker arrived with a different loaf of bread. All of them were delicious, but each loaf had a different crumb, slightly different crust color, and unique flavor. The main differences seems to the based on the flours, but some people experimented with retarding overnight, and others added more flour when turning. This dough is fairly forgiving, and we were all pleased with out personal efforts and results.