I don’t believe that, tons of people claim to have been eating Ciabattas in the 60s and 70s.
They can’t all be misremembering.
Got a source? Couldn’t find it, would be happy to add to article. Honestly, it makes sense that people were making white breads with high water content dough and chewy crust before. But he made it for a particular reason, named it, and it spread internationally from his example.
My grandma, aunt, and a former boss. Admittedly not great sources, but ask any boomer who toured or lived in Italy during that era if they had a ciabatta back then.
A google books search for pre-1982 books brings up at least one cookbook https://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=ciabatta&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_max:Dec+31_2+1982&num=100
The article says there are other (perhaps older) similar regional breads that later came to be considered types of ciabatta. Maybe that’s what they’re referring to?
lol “you know what the world has gone far too long without?”
“…uh. what”
“BREAD THAT’S ALMOST 50% AIR”
“the fuck?”
But the crust is yummy. Americans don’t value crust enough. Ciabatta is a good gateway to appreciate crust more.
Honestly, I don’t really get that one. Like, baguettes are also not really special. They’re not shit, so better than 90% of bread, but it feels like someone slapped a marketable name on decent bread and that’s all there is to it.
Maybe, I am just snobby, though. People do say that we’ve got good bakeries in my region, in general.