My First Homemade Ciabatta Bread

My hubby love ciabatta bread, so I've been wanting to make it for a long time. I've watched numerous videos and recipes in the past and it seems to be a little more complicated than any normal dough. I remember making it is not easy, and it requires a good oven. Hence, I've been delaying my intention to bake one.

...the high hydration in this bread gives it a lovely chewy center...

But I was wrong! Lucky for me that I decided to bake it few days ago. Yes, the dough was a little tacky to handle but it's not anything too complicated for me. The dough needs to be wet and sticky. The high hydration in this bread gives it a lovely chewy center with tons of irregular holes.

I've make this bread with a bread flour and instant yeast which are a few months passed their 'best used by' date, and it still yields a good ciabatta bread. I can't wait to bake this again using fresh ingredients.

Okay, here's the recipe. I've halved the recipe from Baked by An Introvert because I don't have a big oven. This recipe make a two 6" loaves or a 12" loaf. Happy baking!

CIABATTA BREAD
(Recipe adapted from Baked by An Introvert)

Prep Time  : 182 mins (+ 24 hours refrigerate)
Cook Time : 27 mins
Total Time : 3 hours 29 mins (+ 24 hours refrigerate)
Makes       : Two 6" loaves or One 12" loaf

Ingredients:
Sponge
100g bread flour
120g water
1/8 tsp instant yeast

Dough
177g bread flour
120g water
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp oil (for greasing)

Directions:
Sponge
1. In a large bowl, combine flour, water and yeast. Mix with a wooden spoon until it is free of lumps. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.

Sponge: After 24 hours

Dough
2. Remove your sponge from the fridge and add water to it. Using a rubber spatula, run around the inner wall of the bowl to release the sponge from the bowl.

3. Transfer the sponge mixture into a mixer bowl, fitted with paddle attachment. Add the flour and salt, beat low speed for a minute.

4. Increase the speed up a notch and continue to beat for another minute. Then increase the speed up a notch and continue to beat until the dough starts to release from the sides of the bowl, about 3-4 minutes.

5. Evenly coat the inner of a large bowl with a thin layer of oil. With wet hands, gently scoop the dough into the greased bowl, Cover and let it rest for 45 minutes.

6. Using a well greased scraper, gently fold the dough over on itself. Cover and let rest for another 45 minutes. Repeat this step once more.

7. After your 3rd 45 minutes rest, cut a big piece of non-stick baking parchment paper to be used as your work surface. Generously floured your work surface and let the dough slide out from the bowl onto your work surface. At this point, your dough is full of the wonderful air bubbles. Be careful not to knock all the air out of the dough. The dough will be very sticky, so you need to dust the top of the dough with generous amount of flour.

Two Mini Loaves
8a. Using two well-floured scrapers, shape the dough into a square, take note not to put pressure on top of the dough. Cut down in the middle and gently shape them into 2 loaves. Move one of the loaf away from the other so that there is enough space in between to create a divider/ wall. To do so, fold up the parchment paper in between these two loaves. Cover with a cloth and rest for 20 minutes.

One Loaf
8b. Using two well-floured scrapers, shape the dough into a loaf, take note not to put pressure on top of the dough. Cover with a cloth and rest for 20 minutes.

9. Preheat oven at 230°c, with a baking sheet at lowest rack.

10. Cut your work surface (the non-stick parchment paper) to the size of the baking sheet. Dust off any excess flour on the parchment paper. Spray the loaf/ loaves lightly with water. Transfer the whole parchment paper and loaf/ loaves on the preheated baking sheet. Bake for 22 - 27 minutes, until the crust is deep golden brown .

11. For the first 5 minutes of baking, spray the loaf/ loaves twice more. This will give the breast a nice rustic crust.

12. Cool completely on wire rack before slicing. This bread is good for dipping in soup or sauces. Enjoy!

Notes:
● The longer you let your sponge to sit in the fridge, the more flavor and structure your bread will have.

● I find that using a non-stick parchment paper as work surface is so much easier to handle than working on a countetop surface.

● Make sure to use a lint-free cloth to cover the dough.

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Snowskin Mooncakes (Steaming Method)

Snowskin mooncake is a non-baked mooncake eaten chilled during Mid-Autumn Festival. It has a skin texture similar to mochi and the filling can be of the common ones like lotus paste or red bean paste to the exotic ones like durian paste.

My hubby love the traditional snowskin mooncake with the lotus paste or daoyung filling. Many years ago, I've been making the showskin mooncakes with kao fen/cooked glutinous rice flour and shortening. The recipe was great, it was easy to make and the taste was great too! But after a few rounds, i soon realized that the skin will start to dry up after the 3rd day.

So 2 years back, I tried a new recipe with steaming method. It was perfect because the skin was still soft on the 3rd day, and throughout the week. I hasn't got a chance to test the skin for longer than a week because it'll be all gone in our tummies before that! So, if you are making these mooncakes and they lasted more than a week, please let me know how's the texture ya!

Usually the mini mooncake weight at 50g each but mines are 55g each because I like the mooncakes to be taller. If you are using the same mold as mine, you can adjust the total weight in between 50g - 60g. I am using 25g filling with 30g dough. This distribution is just right for my hubby. But if you like to have more skin, then you can adjust accordingly.

Hope you'll enjoy my recipe!


MOONCAKE MOLD

This is the mooncake mold I am using. Just secure the design plate by twisting the handle. Usually each mold comes with 4 design plates and this cost me around RM10++ at a bakery supplies shop.

SNOWSKIN MOONCAKES (STEAMING METHOD)

Prep Time  : 60 mins
Cook Time : 15 mins
Total Time : 1 hour 15 mins (+3 hours resting)
Makes       : +/- 400g snowskin dough (approx. 13pcs mini mooncakes)

Ingredients:
70g glutinous rice flour
45g rice flour
25g wheat starch
60g castor sugar
220ml water
38g condensed milk
1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp banana essence or essence of your choice

Filling
325g filling of your choice

Coating
3 Tbsp glutinous rice flour
1 pandan leave, cut into 3 - 4 sections

Directions:
1. For Coating : In a pan under low heat, stir-fry glutinous rice flour with pandan leave for approx. 5 mins. As you cook, the pandan leave will emit a nice aroma and this will enhance the smell of the cooked glutinous rice flour. The glutinous rice flour is done when you see that the pandan leave has dried up and turned slightly brown. There shouldn't be any raw flour smell. Dish up and set aside to cool completely.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine glutinous rice flour, rice flour and wheat starch. Mix well and set aside until needed.

3. In another medium bowl, combine water, castor sugar and condensed milk. Mix until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in vegetable oil and essence of your choice.

4. Pour the liquid batter into the flour mixture and stir well until they are well combined. It should be a liquid batter with no lumps. If there are lumps, press it against the side of the bowl with your spatula to break it. (A few tiny lumps are acceptable)

5. Strain the batter into a shallow dish and steam for 15 - 20 mins until the dough is cooked. The dough is cooked when you can cut through the dough with a spatula and it comes out clean. Remove from steaming rack and let it cool for 5 minutes.

6. While the dough is still hot (not piping hot) and in the steaming dish, knead the dough with a spatula in folding motion until it becomes smooth and let the dough cool down completely. The dough may seems very oily at first but don't worry it wont be oily after kneading and cooled down.

7. Wrap the dough with cling wrap and put in refrigerator for 2 - 4 hours.

MOLDING THE MOONCAKES
8. Weight your filling by 25g each and your dough by 30g each. Shape them into balls and cover both ingredients with cling wrap to avoid drying up while you are working on them one by one.

9. Take a ball of dough and flatten it on your palm to form a circle (approx. 7 - 8 cm in diameter). The center should be thinner than the sides. Form a C-shape with your left hand and rest the flattened dough on the C-shape. Then place a ball of filling in the center of the dough, the ball of filling will gently slide into your C-shape hand with your thumb and index finger holding it. Then using your right hand gently push and pull the sides of the dough upward so that all edges will meet together. Seal all the edges together and gently shape into an oval ball. (Oval shape will be easier to fit into the mold later)

10. Coat the oval ball and the inside of the mooncake mold with cooked glutinous rice flour. Place the oval ball on your working mat with the thinner side facing the top. Gently lower the mold onto the oval ball and press the mooncake mechanism. Lift the mooncake mold up and press the mooncake mechanism to release the mooncake. Repeat with the rest of your dough. Keep the mooncakes in an airtight container and chill before consuming.

Notes:
● You may use kao fen/ cooked glutinous rice flour for coating.

● You may replace the water for any fruit juice, liquid flavor or color as you like.

● The dough will be very sticky. So it is best to work with disposable gloves when molding the mooncakes.

● These mooncakes are best to be eaten after chilled for a day. It can be kept in the refrigerator for upto a week.

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3-Ingredient Steamed Sponge Cake

This steamed sponge cake is also known as Kai Dan Kou. The original recipe is from my hubby's late grandma (Ah Mah) - 1 bowl egg, 1 bowl sugar and 1 bowl flour. In Chinese families, our elderly usually don't have the exact measurements. It is always "agak-agak" which means "more or less". And most of the time, they will use bowls to determine the recipe.

According to everyone in my hubby's family, they said Ah Mah make the best Kai Dan Kou. She would use a spring whisk to whisk a bucket of eggs until fluffy and airy, and then steam a big tray of Kai Dan Kou for everyone at home. How I wish I have the chance to witness it and enjoy her Kai Dan Kou!

Well, right now, I can only try to recreate her Kai Dan Kou. Since I don't have a spring whisk, I use a hand mixer instead. The taste and texture wise is good and almost the same as Ah Mah's, according to my hubby. He said that the inside should have more holes, mine is too refined.

Initially, I wanted to name this recipe as "Traditional/ Ah Mah's Kai Dan Kou". But since it is still lacking of something (compared to Ah Mah's Kai Dan Kou), I couldn't bring myself to name it that way. So instead, I am naming this recipe as "Steamed Sponge Cake".

This sponge cake is the easiest I've ever make. It only requires 3 ingredients and cooking time only 15 minutes. The texture comes out to be really fluffy, soft and moist. This recipe is definitely a keeper!

3-INGREDIENT STEAMED SPONGE CAKE

Prep Time  : 20 mins
Cook Time : 15 mins
Total Time : 35 mins
Makes       : one 8" cake

Ingredients:
4 eggs
90g sugar
100g cake flour, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Directions:
You will need a round 8" cake tin, line sides and bottom with parchment paper.

1. Prepare the wok for steaming.

2. Using a hand mixer on low speed, beat eggs till frothy. Gradually add in sugar and increase speed to medium. After 5 mins, increase speed to high and beat for another 10 mins, until the batter is thick and has quadrupled in volume.

2. Add in cake flour, a tablespoon at a time, continuing to beat the batter as you add. Lastly add in vanilla extract (optional) and mix till combined.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and steam on high heat for 15 mins. The cake is done when the skewer inserted came out clean.

Notes:
● You will need to steam the batter immediately after pouring into the cake tin. So make sure to prepare the steaming wok and have the water boiling first.

● Adding the vanilla extract will help to reduce the eggy smell.

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Ondeh-Ondeh

Ondeh-Ondeh is a popular traditional sweet dessert in Malaysia, which happened to be mine and my hubby's childhood favorite snack. Ondeh-Ondeh or Onde-Onde is a chewy pandan flavored glutionous rice ball with melted gula Melaka/ palm sugar filling.

As you bite into these cute little green chewy balls, the melted gula melaka oozes out, literally bursting in your mouth. The differences in the texture is definitely appealing to the tastebud. The aromatic of fresh grated coconut further enhances the flavor. It's a yummy~licious combination!

When you buy ondeh-ondeh from outside, have you ever wonder why sometimes they are soft, sometimes they are chewy? That is because of the amount of tapioca starch added. Some peoples will also use sago flour or wheat starch. And some will use cooked dough method.

Me and my hubby has different preferences on the chewiness of our ondeh-ondeh. He likes the soft chewy texture where else I like the QQ chewy texture.

To achieve a less chewy or should I say, soft chewy texture, you may just use glutinous rice flour with cooked dough method or add 10g of tapioca starch to your glutinous rice flour.

And to achieve a QQ chewy texture, you need to add more tapioca starch to your glutinous rice flour. How much tapioca starch to add depends on how QQ/ chewy you wanted it to be. I personally think that 1:3, tapioca starch to glutinous rice flour is the most ideal ratio.

If you follow my recipe below, you will get the QQ chewy texture that me and my kids love! Hope you'll love it too!

ONDEH-ONDEH

Prep Time  : 90 mins
Cook Time : 10 mins
Total Time : 1 hour 40 mins
Makes       : approx. 45 balls

Ingredients:
180g glutinous rice flour
50g tapioca flour
180ml pandan juice + 10ml hot water (see note below)
90g gula Melaka/ palm sugar, finely chopped
110g fresh grated coconut
A pinch of salt
2 pandan leaves

Directions:
1. Mix salt with fresh grated coconut and steam with pandan leaves underneath for 2-3 minutes. Remove the pandan leaves and leave aside to cool completely.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine glutinous rice flour and tapioca starch. Mix well. Slowly add in the pandan juice whilst stirring with a stainless steel spoon or a spatula. Knead lightly to form a soft dough.

3. Pinch a a small piece of dough (approx. 10g) and flatten lightly. Using a 1/4tsp measuring spoon, scoop a spoonful of gula melaka into the center of the dough. Bring all sides up and seal it. Roll to form a nice round ball.

4. Repeat Step 3 until all dough has been used up. Bring a pot of water to boil. Cook the glutinous rice balls in the boiling water. When it floats up on the surface, let it cook for another 1-2 minutes. Scoop out with a slotted spoon into the grated coconut. Roll them around to fully coat the balls with grated coconut.

Notes:
● Pandan Juice : Blend 15pcs pandan leaves with 190ml water. Strain and measure out 180ml pandan juice. Add 10ml hot water to the pandan juice.

● You may buy your fresh grated coconut a few days beforehand and keep in the freezer. When you want to make ondeh-ondeh, portion out 110g and steam for 10-15 minutes. Keep the remaining grated coconut in the freezer upto 1-2 months or more.

● Uncooked ondeh-ondeh can be kept in freezer for 2-3 months. When you want to eat it, take it out directly from the freezer into the hot water and bring to boil.

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