Loaded Sourdough Ciabatta

Hi everyone,

There are two things I look out for in a good sandwich, a nice "everything else" to bread ratio and bursting flavor. When I cook lamb, I usually use the leftover meat in sandwiches, this is where the idea came from.

The sandwich I ended up with comprises the following layers:

-       sourdough ciabatta made from scratch, the dough enriched with roasted red pepper and cumin,

-       slow cooked lamb (cooked overnight at low temp in the oven, seasoned with onion, garlic, lemon, herbs, pomegranate syrup),

-       pesto made of parsley,

-       whipped cream cheese spiced up with sumac and mint,

-       roasted red pepper,

-       and greens (lettuce, mizuna).

I hope you'll like it :-)

The quantities given should be enough to fill 8 ciabattas, but it all depends on how well stuffed you like your sandwich. Meat is the exception. Half of it would have been enough to put in the ciabattas, but I don’t like the oven working overnight for a relatively small amount. We had the rest for next day’s lunch. 

In the last photo I added a schedule to make it easier to follow the individual steps of preparing bread, lamb and pepper for you to see how these are related. It is most definitely not a strict order but I thought it would be useful to have an overview on the whole progress organized around the two most lengthy elements: bread and lamb. 

Ingredients:

For the roasted red pepper:

• 6 large red peppers (about 100g each)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil for roasting
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil for seasoning
• 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar for seasoning

For the ciabatta:

• 100 g refreshed (active) starter
• 560 g strong white bread flour
• 15 g salt
• 360 g water
• 150 g roasted red pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin 
• sunflower/olive oil for greasing the bowl
• more flour for dusting, ice cubes for baking

For the lamb:

• 2 shanks
• 1 leg
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
• 3 onions
• 1 bulb garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• peel of 1 lemon
• small bouquet of thyme
• 8-10 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 tablespoon thick pomegranate syrup
• 3-4 sprigs of mint
• 150 ml white wine
• 300 ml water / stock

For the whipped cream cheese:

• 300 g cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon sumac
• 3-4 mint sprigs

For the parsley pesto:

• 2/3 cup sliced almonds
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 large garlic clove
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 cups parsley leaves
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Various greens (lettuce, rocket, mituna, whatever you like)

Utensils:

• digital scale
• measuring cups
• chopping board
• bowls
• knives
• parchment paper
• sieve
• tongs
• baking tray
• clingfilm
• kitchen towel
• stand mixer
• mason jar / glass
• hand blender
• thick bottomed pot with a lid that can go into the oven
• citrus juicer

Preheat the oven to 230 °C (you might as well turn the grill on).

Wash peppers, let excess water drip off.

Line a baking tray with a piece of parchment paper, drizzle it with olive oil and arrange the peppers on top. Place them in the preheated oven (top rack) and roast for about 15-20 minutes until their skin turns black. Then flip them around with a tong and roast for another 5 to 8 minutes. 

Right after taking them out of the oven, transfer peppers into a bowl and cover tightly with clingfilm and let it stand for about 10 minutes. The steam that evaporates makes it easier to get rid of the skin. Remove skin, stem and seeds and divide the roasted flesh of the peppers into two parts. About 150 g goes into the bread, put that aside.

Place the remaining peppers into a small bowl add a splash of olive oil and just a bit of balsamic vinegar. Keep in the fridge until further use.

It all starts with a starter.

Precedents:

How to make sourdough from scratch, and how to keep it alive, see: here.

How to refresh sourdough starter (longer explanation), see: here.

A day before you’re planning to make the sandwiches, in the morning, take your starter out of the fridge. Place an empty mason jar on the digital scale, measure 50 g of starter, 100 g strong bread flour and 100 g water. Mix until combined and leave on the countertop covered with a lid for 4-6 hours.

The time it takes for the starter to get ready to work with depends on a lot of things, how often it is refreshed, room temperature and humidity. What you have to look out for is a significant increase in volume and bubbles visible in the jar.

Remember the 150 g of roasted red pepper that we set aside for the bread? Blend with an immersion blender until smooth.

Once you have the starter ready to use, combine flour, roasted pepper purée, 100 g of the refreshed starter and water in the mixing bowl of the stand mixer equipped with the dough hook until well combined.

Add salt and cumin and keep mixing for a minute or two.

You will have a rather sticky dough but that is alright.

Cover the bowl with clingfilm or a kitchen towel and leave to rest for half an hour. 

Make the first stretch and fold: grab the side of the dough in the bowl, stretch is slightly over the top of the dough ball then turn the bowl and go all around repeatedly stretching the dough the same way until you get back to the starting point. Again, cover and let it rest for about 45 minutes this time.

Repeat stretching and folding three more time with 45 minutes of rest between them. From the second folding on, as gluten develops and the dough gets a bit firmer, you may also do the stretching and folding by tucking your hands under the dough from the right and the left, lift it up and then fold over.

Before the third fold, you should see bubbles appear in the dough. Do not expect huge bubbles, because this is a very high hydration bread.

Following the 4th folding, transfer the dough into a bowl with almost vertical sides (so that it will support the dough during fermentation) lightly greased. Wrap in clingfilm and let it sit on the counter for about 3 hours until its volume increases roughly by 50%. Then place it into the fridge for about 12-15 hours.

Next morning, dump the dough onto a generously floured countertop, add a decent amount of flour also on top of the dough.

Stretch it gently to form it into a rectangle then cut into 8 parts. If they are not exactly the same, it is quite alright, this is not engineering after all. Place the ciabatta rolls individually on a baking tray lined with parchment (not too close, they will grow). Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for one hour (second rise).

Preheat the oven to 250 °C and place the ciabatta in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Along with the bread, put a few ice cubes in a heat proof vessel into the oven to provide steam and help the buns rise. Then lower oven temperature to 210 °C and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Finally we got to the meat. I used two shanks and a leg. I suggest to cook lamb on the same night when the bread dough is sitting in the fridge.

Wash meat and clean if necessary. Pat it dry and trim the meat. Remove fat and fell before cooking. 

Cut 2-3 cloves of garlic into thin stripes. 

Season the meat with salt and pepper and the lemon peel. Poke a few holes into the meat with the tip of a knife and tuck pieces of garlic into the holes. Add pomegranate syrup and spread it with your hand. Turn the meat around and repeat the prices. Finally it’s time for herbs, chop them finely and add on top of the meat.

Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the pot, cut onions into semicircles, add the rest of garlic cloves with their paper skin on add rosemary add wine.

Arrange meat on top, pour in 300 ml of water/stock.

Place in the preheated oven and 30 minutes later lower oven temp to 80 Celsius and cook for 10-12 hours. In the end the lamb will be tender, moist and full of flavor. 

Wash parsley and dry in a salad spinner. Remove leaves from the stalks and place leaves in a high speed blender with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Use room temperature cream cheese. Place it in the mixing bowl of the stand mixer and whisk at high speed for about 2 minutes. Then add milk and keep whisking until light and fluffy. Switch to a spatula, add sumac, finely chopped mint and combine. 

I suggest to place all components on the table so that everyone can build their own sandwich. It is clearly a win-win situation, they determine how much they like from everything and it saves you work.

I know, you've worked enough so far. Enjoy it!