Chasing Ciabatta

[liuzhou]

I’m donning my carpet slippers despite having no carpets and getting into ciabatta. It started last Friday when I went searching my online shopping sources for ciabatta buns. I certainly found some – too many, but soon narrowed them down to three.

 

But one type wasn’t what I was looking for – a small ciabatta loaf with olives, cheese and bacon embedded within. I found that interesting so ordered a couple. I had one for breakfast yesterday as mentioned on the Breakfast topic. $2.75 USD per bun but and extra $1.11 for delivery. How the cheese didn’t melt in the baking, I don’t know.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I was left with what I really wanted – plain ciabatta buns.

 

First up are a set of seven buns (the minimum order) at $0.66 per bun. Delivery free.

 

 

 

Second a set of three (again min order), $0.92 per bun and despite coming by far the furthest, again free.

 

 

 

There wasn’t much flavour difference between them but the set of seven were cheaper per bun. However I think I preferred the set of three buns; they had a nicer texture.

 

They came from all over China. The olive variety from Jiangxi in Eastern China; the seven plain from Henan in Central China; the three plain from the far northern Liaoning province. I’m in South China. Despite being from different destinations and being ordered at the same time, they all arrived yesterday morning.

 

The reason for my interest was a desire to use the plain buns as subs for burger buns which I always find too sweet, especially here. Never done this before but have seen them recommended for burgers several times..

 

Anyone tried?

 

Another question. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the American pronunciation of ciabatta has an initial /s/ sound as opposed to the /ch/ in both the British. Is that universal in America or regional?

 

 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

I'm wondering about the crust on these. Is it hard or is it soft? Usually ciabatta has a very hard crust which is why I don't really care for it.

I agree with you totally on hamburger buns. The ones that we get here are so sweet and so soft that they fall apart before the hamburger is consumed. I always use some type of French roll if I don't make my own.

As for pronunciation, my knowledge of Italian is limited but I do know that the c is pronounced with a ch sound and the ch is pronounced like the letter k.

[Smithy]

I too wouldn't think of ciabatta because of the likelihood of the very firm crust. If I use a burger bun at all, I generally go for something less sweet than the standard (whole wheat, for instance). However, I think the idea of cheese, bacon and olive in a burger bun sounds delicious.

 

I'm in the USA. I pronounce "ciabatta" with an initial ch sound, and have never heard it pronounced as "sh" before. That said, I'll also admit that I pronounce the i and the initial a, so it comes out like "chyuh-BAHT-tuh" and have never been corrected on it. I may have picked that pronunciation up from a cooking show. Or it may have been my fertile pronunciation imagination.

 

I also can't imagine and have never heard that final "tt" pronounced as "d" but it may be a regional thing.

 

Ciabatta. Ciabatta. Mmm! May have to make some soon.

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Tropicalsenior said:

 

As for pronunciation, my knowledge of Italian is limited but I do know that the c is pronounced with a ch sound and the ch is pronounced like the letter k.

 

Yes Ciabatta in Italian has the /ch/ pronunciation.

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I'm wondering about the crust on these. Is it hard or is it soft?

 

It's soft as were those I ate in Lombardy, Italy in 1993.

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by liuzhou (log)

[BeeZee]

The set of 3 definitely looked more like what I'm accustomed to seeing (I'm in a heavily Italian-American area of the U.S.), and like Smithy, I pronounce with "ch", have never heard anyone using "sib" in the pronunciation. We have used these for burgers since the crust definitely holds up to meat juice or other wetter toppings. The downside is the crust can be a bit tough to bite through as a sandwich...I sometimes will opt for open faced instead.