Today’s #worldofwarcraft bake is Airy Ciabatta, a specialty of Bastion in the Shadowlands along with Ripe Purians (mangos), walnuts, and purified skyspring water. These tiny loaves taste like French bread and have a nice chewy crust, perfect for sandwiches. An overnight dough rest plus seven hours of multiple rise phases means they need patience and planning ahead but they are pretty tasty.

The Shadowlands, in lore, are one of the afterlife options for the souls of Azeroth and the other worlds in the World of Warcraft universe. Bastion is a place for resting weary souls, seeking solace and purpose, working through trauma and letting go of it. This is the place for self-care and shadow work. The population centers are full of silver and gold friendly owl-like creatures who assist and support everyone as they go through their emotional stuff. Tending bread dough is a nice physical meditation, which explains why it’s available from basically every vendor here and seen on tables all over.

So, today we take a pause, work some bread dough, rest in flowy soft clothing and drink cold water. The warm breeze embraces us from across the pink-purple grasslands. We hear echoes of distant hawks in flight and soft slow music from harps and flutes. Everything in its own time. We can take the ciabatta back with us to the world, and remember this deep peacefulness when we smell bread baking. Making space for a pause is so important – make this space for yourself, and help others to have that space and pause too. We can all use one. Pause, and refresh, before heading back out to battle the craziness of the world.

(recipe inspiration from King Arthur Flour)

Shadowlands Ciabatta

Tiny French bread style loaves with chewy crust, this ciabatta is perfect for sandwiches. Let the scent of baking bread remind you to pause and have a moment of rest before returning to the world.

5 from 1 vote

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Course Bread

Cuisine French, World of Warcraft

Servings 0

Equipment

• Stand mixer or bread machine for kneading dough
• 2 Half-sheet baking pans (18" x 13") or similar baking sheets
• Bench knife

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Starter

• 1 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 cup cool water
• 1/16 tsp yeast instant or regular

Dough

• all of the starter from above
• 2 tsp yeast instant or regular
• 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 ¼ tsp table salt
• 2 Tbsp nonfat dry milk
• ⅔ cup lukewarm water
• 3 Tbsp avocado oil or olive oil

Instructions

 

Starter

• Mix the starter ingredients in a medium bowl until well combined. Cover the starter and let it rest at room temperature OVERNIGHT, or for up to 15 hours.

Bread

• Place all of the dough ingredients, including the starter, into the bowl of your mixer, and beat at medium speed, using the flat beater, for 7 minutes. The dough will be very smooth, soft, shiny, and elastic. ** (you can knead by hand if you're really wanting a good workout, or see notes for using a bread machine)
• Transfer the dough to a greased bowl or other rising container, cover it, and let it rise for 2 hours.
• Give the dough a fold: Turn it out onto a floured surface and, using a bowl scraper or bench knife, fold it like a business letter. Turn the dough 90 degrees. Gently flatten it a bit, and repeat the letter fold. Return the dough to the bowl, cover, and let it rise for another hour.
• Lightly grease your work surface, and two half-sheet baking pans (18" x 13") or similar large baking sheets. Grease your hands too.
• Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly greased work surface.
• Pat the dough into an 8" x 10" rectangle and cut it into 12 squares using a bench knife (about 2 1/2" each).
• Transfer the rolls to the baking sheets, leaving about 3″ between them.
• Lightly cover the rolls with heavily oiled plastic wrap and allow them to rise for 2 to 3 hours, or until they're showing some signs of puffiness. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 425°F.
• Spritz the risen rolls with lukewarm water (or very gently use wet hands to moisten the tops of all of them). Gently but firmly dimple each one with your fingers, making fairly deep pockets.
• Immediately place the rolls into the oven. Bake them until they’re golden brown, about 18 to 20 minutes. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack.
• Slice crosswise, and add your favorite fillings. Store any leftovers tightly wrapped, at room temperature.

Notes

** Alternatively, knead the dough ingredients in your bread machine using the dough cycle.  Skip the folding step and let the bread continue proofing for an extra hour after the dough cycle completes.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!