Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Rye and Herb Ciabatta / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Ciabattine alla segale e erbe aromatiche

Ciabatta. A versatile crunchy bread roll. Breakfast? You can have ciabatta spread with butter and jam. Lunch break? Bite into a cheese and lettuce ciabatta. Snack? A mini ciabatta with a piece of chocolate will ease those hunger pangs. Dinner? Ciabatta is the perfect accompaniment for any soup, or a valuable help to scoop spaghetti sauce from the plate. For today’s recipe for Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook I flavoured the dough with fresh herbs. What a flavour! And what a pleasure to eat them with a little soft goat cheese. Maroggia’s Mill’s farina bianca nostrana is the perfect choice for this highly hydrated dough, developing a good gluten bond which traps all the air bubbles who make this ciabattas so soft. But in order to bite in those crunchy rolls you have to pull your sleeves up! Let’s get started!

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Pistachio and Candied Orange Peel Ciabatta / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Ciabatte al pistacchio e scorza d’arancia candita

Ciabatta mon amour. As you well know, I have tried out and made several ciabatta recipes as its such a versatile dough that I never get tired of experimenting. This time around I wanted to make a version for Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook that lends itself beautifully to whip up a quick and delicious bread and chocolate, strictly extra dark, snack. Don’t you agree that pistachios and orange peel are the perfect match to enrich this simple dough? What are you waiting for? Roll up your sleeves!

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Multigrain ciabatta / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Ciabatte del mulino alla farina 4 cereali

It’s Maroggia’s Mill Cookbok Friday again! It has been a while now since I last posted a recipe for ciabatta. This time I chose Maroggia’s Mill multi grain floru, which I used for these Multigrain Flour, Sesame Seeds and Polenta Taragna Grissini. The result is very good, a nicely developed dough, with a good ratio of holes and a super crunchy crust. The flavour is richer than white flour ciabatta and the texture slighlty rustic, but without the stodginess so common in whole flour breads. The long fermentation helps develop carbon dioxide and gluten, so the bread can rise properly during proffing and baking, and develops a richer flavour of the dough while at the same time making the bread more digestible. But let’s move on to the recipe!

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Caramelized Pecans Ciabattas / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Ciabatte alle noci pecan caramellate

This Friday for Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook I’m going back to one of my favourite bread recipes: ciabatta. Those who know me best are well aware I’ve spent whole months working on several ciabatta recipes. Yeasted, both with fresh and instant yeast, with bread flour and with buckwheat flour too, up to my special version of garlic and lemon thyme flavoured ciabatta. In short, ciabatta is one of my favourite breads ever (as well as my dear friend Flavia‘s). This time the input for the recipe came to me from a long standing acquaintance, Anna Lucylle, who already inspired me a basil flavoured bread. I met her the first time more than ten years ago, but mostly communicate with her through facebook.

Garlic and Lemon Thyme Ciabattas for Twelve Loaves / Ciabatte all’aglio e al timo limonato per Twelve Loaves

When this month’s Twelve Loaves theme came out I was so happy! Onions, garlic, chives, shallots, leeks and Co. Love them all and the choice is so vasti t was only a matter of flavour pairings. Michela just came by for a few days, bringing with her nice presents and a few little glass jars filled with herbs and spices. One particular herb stole my heart and amazed my tastebuds: lemon thyme. I wanted, at all costs, to use it in a bread. Lemon thyme and garlic, I just knew it would work.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Maroggia’s Miller Ciabattas / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Le ciabatte del Mugnaio

Here we go, another “other friday”, another recipe from Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook. This time it’s not a recipe I made up but one that was given to me by the miller itself. Alessandro Fontana in fact is not the miller but headchief of production at the Mill, but I’m sure he won’t mind being “labeled” the miller, it has a romantic and vintage allure to it, don’t you think?

Of Buckwheat ciabatta Quest / Alla ricerca della ciabatta al grano saraceno perfetta

Some recipes are like miracles, perfectly balanced from the first test to the hundred times you cook/bake them after their discovery. Some recipes are like nightmares, thoughts of the numerous failures hunting you at night, the need to nail them a monkey on your back. Especially if you’re like me, instinctive and a bit lazy on the technical/study side of the cooking/baking world. I am improving, but to me nothing beats some proper experiments and action in the kitchen. Guerrilla cooking (oh and how many times I come out defeated!).

Ciabatta the fourth / Ciabatta, la quarta

Recently I have been focusing my attention on blogs and online forums, something I couldn’t afford to do previously, and realized that bread baking can be considered a form of addiction, and I’m not alone. Not that I thought of being unique in this kind of passionate obession but the awareness that out there many other people suffer from the same form of dependence can only make me feel happy and less alone.

Vittorio’s ciabatta, my own way / La ciabatta di Vittorio, a modo mio

This version of ciabatta is born from my experimentation with an original recipe from Vittorio of Viva la focaccia blog. He’s an amazing baker, and his videos and recipes have inspired me and taken my baking passion to a higher level. I have never failed with his recipes, which are always paired with videos that illustrate his techniques step by step. The only changes I have done with his recipes have been with salt and yeast percentage, because I prefer my bread lightly salted and do not digest yeast too easily.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Ricotta and Butter Panini Buns / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Panini alla ricotta e burro

Nothing makes me happy as inviting friends over to have breakfast, lunch or dinner. To prepare a lavish feast with all of the best foods, and pick the favourites according to my friend’s taste, to embellish the table with red mats and placing a nice bowl of fresh fruit on the table. To knead and wait patiently, to shape the dough and wait for another while, the nose stuck to the oven glass in contemplation of the soft dough rising, glossy, giving off an amazing scent throughout the house. I especially love breakfasts. Sweet, savoury…nothing is missing from my table (well, nothing missed…now with macro dieting I cut out all dairy and goodbye to my beloved cheese and yogurt). Usually I bake ciabattas and baguettes, but a little leftover of ricotta inspired me to bake these sandwiches. I never imagined they would turn out so perfect on the first try…but yes they truly are perfect. A well-leavened, soft and light dough. Another recipe which is ideal for a snack and for breakfast, or even for a sandwich to have on the fly on a lunch break. This is my gift to Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook and to all of you. Enjoy!