Ciabatta bread recipe in breadmaker

If only bread-makers could make artisan styled products... No, not really.
If I'm not in the mood to start from scratch then I see nothing wrong using gadgets to help me on my way. Ciabatta is a great bread - easy enough to buy from the supermarket when getting groceries - but so much tastier when made fresh at home.
So, here's an easy recipe for Ciabatta that lets your bread machine do all the kneading and tastes like you spent hours on it.

Ciabatta breadmaker recipe

1½ cups water
1½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 Tablespoon olive oil
3¼ cups flour
1½ teaspoons yeast

1.  Put all the ingredients into your breadmaker in the order above. 
2.  Select the dough only cycle and press start. 
3.  In this recipe - sticky and wet dough = a fluffy loaf - so leave it be.
4.  Once the kneader blade stops churning and the dough cycle beeps "finished", leave the dough alone for 15 minutes.  
5.  Tip the rested dough out onto a floured surface and divide into 2 loaves
6.  Line baking paper onto a baking tray and place the loaves on the baking paper
7.  Dimple each loaf with your fingers and LIGHTLY dust the top of the loaves with flour
8.  Cover with a teatowel and let the loaves 'rest' for 45 minutes
9.  Preheat oven to 200°C
10. Place the tray on the middle rack and bake for 20 minutes
11. Let bread cool then enjoy

This same Ciabatta dough can be used to make square rolls instead of loaves. Just divide the dough into 4, 6, or 8 equal amounts - 12 if you're going to make sliders. Nice and easy.


Ciabatta bread maker recipe

Ginger Beer recipe

I've always liked ginger beer. As a kid, I was given a rustic bottle of it - cloudy, fizzy and refreshing. The drink was even more exciting when one or a few raisins were found in it. On rare occasions, the sediment at the bottom used to be unpleasant, but I soon learnt how to drink the fizz without the 'mud'.
Nowadays, we buy it in bulk and always have some in the fridge ready to be consumed whenever we like. But it's not the same as my memories.
So I decided to find out how to make ginger beer the old fashioned way.

Gotta have a starter - yes, this takes time and patience - and a little effort every day, but seriously, how much of an effort is it to add two half teaspoons of ingredients per day? I simply ticked off on the calendar in our kitchen each time I did it so an easy way to keep track.

Ginger Beer Starter/Bug/Plant - call it what you want

1 teaspoon dry yeast
half teaspoon sugar (I prefer raw sugar)
1 cup warm water
half teaspoon ground ginger

Find yourself a large jar
Put all the ingredients in the jar and mix
Cover the jar with muslin or cloth

Every day - for eight days - add half a teaspoon of sugar and half a teaspoon of ground ginger to the jar.
When you've done this - strain the starter through muslin and add it to the ginger beer syrup

Ginger Beer Syrup

6 litres (24cups) water
4 cups sugar
2 cups lemon juice - or one cup if you're chicken

Put the sugar in a large pot and mix with 6 cups of water
Heat until sugar dissolves
Remove from heat and add the rest of the water and lemon juice
Add the strained ginger beer starter
Mix well
Pour into bottles and put a lid on them
Leave for 5 days
Then refrigerate and enjoy


Ginger Beer recipe