This recipe for Ciabatta Bread creates a very light loaf, soft and chewy on the inside with a thin crunchy rustic crust. I made it for my mom's birthday and it was a huge hit. I hope it will be a hit with you as well.When I originally found this recipe on Peppers.com I was instantly wary. You see I keep stumbling across recipes that begin with the word Trinidad or Caribbean that then go on to have little resemblance either through ingredients or methodology to what I'm familiar with. So when I clicked on this recipe titled ‘Trinidad Hot Baked Fish' I was pleasantly surprised to see that it passed the very first ‘authenticity test' to which it was posed.
So what was that test?
Well once a recipe has fish or chicken in it, if it's presuming to be Trinidadian I instantly expect to see that the first treatment the flesh will be subjected to is a treatment of lime or vinegar. And there it was. The squeezing of the lime. This was the real deal! I could move on This dish was very simple and economical, and even better it pleased the palates of my parents who have very divergent benchmarks of appreciation. I made very few changes besides substituting cheddar cheese for the Parmesan (much more affordable, and infinitely more ‘Trini'), and I also adjusted the baking times because the ones on the site weren't working for me.
Trinidad Hot Baked Fish
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Adapted from a recipe on Peppers.com
Ingredients:
2 lbs. favorite fish fillets
1/4 cup Trinidad Pepper Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup soft butter
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 lime
Directions:
1. Place rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Blend all ingredients, except fish and lime, together.
3. Place in refrigerator.
4. Butter bottom of baking dish.
5. Place fish fillets in baking dish.
6. Squeeze lime juice over fish.
7. Salt, pepper, and sprinkle fish with your favorite dry spice mix (mine is ras-al-hanout, maggi fish seasoning would be good too!).
8. Broil fish for 7-10 minutes depending on thickness.
9. Pull fish out of oven and place Pepper Sauce mixture over fish.
10. Broil 3-5 minutes or until lightly browned!
Serves 6 to 8
Ciabatta Bread Recipe:
Ingredients:
1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons warm water
1/3 cup warm water
1 cup bread flour
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons warm water
1 tsp brown sugar
2/3 cup warm water
1 tablespoon 2 tablespoons olive oil (edited in light of this comment )
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Wholewheat flour for dusting
Directions:
1. To Make Sponge: In a small bowl stir together 1/8 teaspoon of the yeast and the warm water and let stand 5 minutes, or until creamy.
2. In a bowl stir together yeast mixture, 1/3 cup of the water, and 1 cup of the bread flour.
3. Stir 4 minutes, then cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let sponge stand at cool room temperature for 24 hours.
After 24 hours
4. To Make Bread: In a small bowl stir together yeast, warm water and sugar and let stand 5 minutes, or until creamy.
5. In bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with dough hook blend together yeast mixture, sponge, water, oil, and flour at low speed until flour is just moistened; add salt and mix until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
6. Scrape dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
7. Let dough rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. (Dough will be sticky and full of air bubbles.)
8. Turn dough out onto a well-floured work surface and cut in half.
9. Transfer each half to a greased baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal and form into an irregular oval about 9 inches long. Dimple loaves with floured fingers and dust tops with wholewheat flour.
10. Cover loaves with a dampened kitchen towel. Let loaves rise at room temperature until almost doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
11. At least 45 minutes before baking ciabatta, put a baking stone on oven rack in lowest position in oven and preheat oven to 425 F (220 degrees C).
12. Bake ciabatta loaves 15-20 minutes, or until pale golden.
13. Cool loaves on a wire rack.
Makes 2 loaves
