Got any Bread man...

We wouldn't want you to think that all we do is farm...that would be boring. Not to say that farming is boring but if that really was all we did then we would be boring!

For the last few years I have been on a quest to learn how to make 3 breads.

• Homemade "light" bread like my Grandma
• French Country Bread
• Ciabatta Bread

The "light" bread was not that hard to get a handle on. It is a simple yeast bread that you can make and eat every day. In our house we now make almost all of our daily bread using this or a variation of my Grandma's recipe.

Next on my list was French Country bread. I have great memories of the fresh baked Country bread I picked up every couple of days from Valentine's Bakery in Albury, Australia. I don't have any idea how they made the bread and still today they will not share any of their secrets.

This crusty bread with a light and somewhat airy crumb has proved to be my biggest challenge. To this day I have not been able to master this loaf! I can make bread with the right crust but the wrong crumb. I can make bread with the right crumb but not the right crust. But, never have I been able to combine the two! If you have any good recipes LET ME KNOW. Don't get me wrong....I am not giving up.... But, I needed to try something else for a while.

So, bring on the Ciabatta! I tried a half dozen recipes. But, none of them were just what I was looking for...nice crust with a light and holey crumb. Then I saw a recipe on "The Fresh Loaf" website. Here is the link... ciabatta. I couldn't believe how simple this recipe sounded!!

I started the bread in the morning and it mixed just as was stated. Believe it or not it really does take about 20 minutes of mixing in my Kitchen Aid for the pancake batter you start with to become a dough. After the dough came together I poured it into a bucket to grow!

As you can see there wasn't a lot of dough. But, the recipe said I could expect it to triple in size....so, I had high hopes!

Well, after the dough was packed away for the rise I went to work at the farm. Oh, right I am not talking about that in this post.

When I returned from a very hot morning with my hoe.... Ok, i said I wasn't going to talk about farming in this post but that time I was! Much to my surprise the dough had MORE THAN TRIPLED and was full of bubbles!!

So far so good... Now came the hard part. That was to get the dough out of the bucket. But, as the bucket was well oiled that was not an issue and the dough slid right out onto the counter and settled in on top of the flour. I looked at the dough and it was FULL of all sizes of bubbles. The recipe wanted me to cut the dough into 3 pieces...but as we had already planned to make a fresh tomato sauce and salad with veggies we collected that day from the garden I figured 1 big ciabatta would work best. Also, I was a little worried about killing all of those great bubbles!

I made a couple of light folds to shape the bread and drizzled a little olive oil over the top and put it on a section of bakers paper for the final rise. The bubbles were still intact and it looked like this just might work.....

The oven was pre-heating and all was on schedule for a nice dinner. After the oven reached it very high 500F I slid the bread into the oven closed the door (that's right no extra water for steam) and hoped for the best.

After 15 minutes the house was beginning to sell like bread and I had my first look. It looked GREAT!! There was HUGH spring in this dough!! But, it didn't look done yet....so I let it go another 5 minutes. After the 20 minutes I pulled the bread and sat it on the counter. Maybe this was the one. Maybe this ciabatta was the one I had been searching for!

The crust was right...light brown, a little hard but not thick. One test to go....the crumb...would it be too dry, too wet, NO HOLES!! Only one way to find out and a by now the fresh salad and tomato sauce was on the table. No turning back now, just cut the bread!!!!

Amazing!! It was full of holes of all sizes. It was light, not too wet or dry. The crust held the crumb but was not over powering. But, how did it taste? Again...Amazing!! It was flavorful without being to yeasty. This was going to add just the right touch to our fresh meal.

I was hoping there would be some bread for me to have with butter and jam (peaches from the farm) for breakfast. But, that was not to be. I guess that is a positive vote from the family! During dinner we all talked about the veggies and about the bread. We all agreed this is something we should make at least once a week!!

Two down....one to go......