with a hint of Pesto Aioli
Hey, what's up guys welcome back to Binging with Babish, where this week, you might be asking yourself
Why does he need a bowl to make a sandwich?
Well, we're going to need a lot of bowls because we're making ciabatta - the ideal vehicle for a prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich.
We're starting with five ounces of
all-purpose flour, quarter-teaspoon of instant yeast in a cup of water, that we're going to combine in a medium bowl
Stir until it's a sort of pasty-looking paste.
We're going to cover it in plastic wrap and let it sit - room temperature, for 24 hours.
This is going to ferment into what's called a biga.
which is a kind of Italian starter.
The fermentation helps with flavor development and also made our biga all sticky, and icky.
This is a sign that you did it right.
In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the biga, ten ounces of all-purpose flour,
a half-teaspoon of yeast and one and a half-teaspoons of Kosher salt.
We're also going to add 6 ounces of lukewarm water and 2 ounces of lukewarm milk.
This is a method developed by America's Test Kitchen
and it helps control the size of the bubbles that form in the dough. Mix on low speed for a minute or two just
combined, and at first you're going to be all like, "this isn't bread dough this is cupcake batter,"
but just stick with me here. Switch to a dough hook and knead on medium speed for at least 10 minutes until the dough becomes
silky, sticky, and smooth. This is helping me build gluten and therefore structure in our eventual loaves. Next up: rising, kneading, and repeating.
Place the dough into a very well-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let rest for one hour, or until it's doubled in volume.
Three episodes of Frasier later
and we're going to come back to see our little guy all grown up. Spray a rubber spatula down with the non-stick spray and gently
fold the dough towards the center like this eight times.
Recover with plastic and let rise for
another episode and a half of Frasier. Fold eight times again, recover with plastic wrap, and let rise once more
for another episode and a half. I know this seems like a lot of work, but I swear to God,
sandwiches made on bread that you baked yourself taste ten times better.
Scientifically proven. Turn this very sticky dough out onto an extremely well floured surface,
flouring your tabletop more as the dough inevitably sticks to it. Divide the dough into three equal pieces and shape each of these pieces into
roughly a six by ten inch rectangle. Try not to deflate too many bubbles.
We're then going to fold the dough on itself kind of like a letter.
Place seam-side down on a piece of parchment paper and dust with a bit more flour before
covering with plastic wrap and letting rest for one final episode of Frasier. Remove the plastic wrap, make any final
necessary adjustments to the shape. Dust with a bit more flour if it's leaning a little too doughy and placed on a pizza peel. Spritz down
with a little bit of water before using the parchment paper to slide directly onto a pizza stone in a preheated
450F oven for one to one-and-a-half episodes of Frasier. I'm sorry,
I'll stop doing that - for 22 to 30 minutes. While we let these guys cool completely, let's get some Pesto Aioli
going. Start by toasting about a half-cup of pine nuts in a dry pan,
allowing to cool completely,
and placing in the jar of a food processor, along with maybe a cup of packed basil leaves, one to two glugs of high quality
extra virgin olive oil, and a single clove of peeled garlic. Process for about a minute until you get a nice creamy pesto.
We're going for a sandwich spread here
so we don't want it too chunky. Season with salt and pepper if necessary and get ready to make some Aioli.
We're employing Chef John's "wrap a damp towel around the bowl"
so it won't move nothing. Because we're going to be whisking this guy pretty hard,
we're going to need both of our hands. Combine one egg
yolk and three cloves of grated garlic along with just a hint of grated fingertips because it gets kind of tricky
towards the end there, see? Season with Kosher salt and whisk them to combine, while slowly
drizzling in olive oil. Drizzle
too fast and the Aioli will break, drizzle too slow, and you'll just kind of be here all day.
Then we're going to present our pesto to the party, permanently pairing with our perfectly provencal Aioli.
I gave up. Slice our beautiful bread, dressing a little bit of olive oil, and start shingling on layer after layer of prosciutto -
about half a pound, I'd say. Next up - mozzarella.
Make sure you use your buffalo mozzarella - way better. A few tomatoes, because it just makes sense in this sandwich,
and then the only green that I think can stand up to all the richness and the sandwich - the peppery bite of Arugula.
Make sure you put just the hint of our pesto aioli on the top half before
putting the roof on our house and making it a home. If you think I'm not going to get a
cross-section of this thing, you must be new around here. Take a look at, easily,
what's got to be one of the top five sandwiches I've ever made. Top three.
Now, I know the hydra are a bunch of really bad guys, but if they started serving these things in the cafeteria every Tuesday
I'd join up. They have a cool logo anyway.