Mini Air Bread with Iberian Bacon & Caviaroli

Molecular gastronomy Chef Nandu Jubany of Michelin star restaurant Can Jubany in Barcelona proudly raises his own produce and livestock so that he has the freshest, purest ingredients to use in his modernist versions of traditional Catalan cuisine. The following recipe from Chef Jubany uses molecular gastronomy Chef Ferran Adria’s beautiful Caviaroli olive oil caviar that you can purchase from our store.

Simple enough for even those who are new to preparing modernist cuisine, these air breads are a great example of how molecular gastronomy can bring new layers of flavor to even the most traditional of dishes. The smoky flavor of bacon melds with the crispy texture and mildly sour flavor of these delightfully bite-sized breads while the crunch of sea salt and the pop of the oil spheres combine to deliver a surprisingly complex flavor and texture experience that leaves your guests wanting more!

Served as an appetizer or as a bread course, these air breads are topped with Caviaroli olive oil caviar created using Ferran Adria’s modified method of spherification. This technique surrounds olive oil drops with a thin layer of water with sodium alginate and the drops then go into a calcium bath (basic spherification). Olive oil does not gelatinize, but with this technology, Caviaroli is able to create a thin capsule of gelatin around the olive oil drop to form the olive oil caviar. Make sure you have them before you get started! To buy Caviaroli from our store click here.

Also, this recipe calls for a sourdough, or starter dough. This takes about a week to create but the flavor that it adds to the bread is well worth the extra effort.

Yields about 10 air breads, 5 servings

Ingredients for the mini air breads:

- 160g (5.65 oz)bread flour (strong flour, high protein content)

- 5g compressed fresh yeast

- 95g (3.35 oz) milk

- 2g table salt

- 7.5 g sourdough starter (made by fermenting 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup water for one week at room temperature)

Other ingredients

- Chef Ferran Adria’s Caviaroli olive oil caviar

- 50g (1.8 oz) Iberian bacon, sliced extra thin

- 20g (0.7 oz) white truffle for grating

- 15g (0.5 oz) Maldon sea salt

Preparation

Air Breads

1 - Add all ingredients except salt into your mixer.

2 - Knead for 9 minutes at medium speed.

3 - Add the salt and knead two additional minutes.

4 - Store the dough in a covered bowl in the refrigerator.

5 - Let it ferment for four hours.

6 – Remove from the fridge.

7 – Stretch the dough with a rolling pin until it’s about 0.5cm (0.2 inch) thick.

8 – Fold it in half and stretch it again to the same thickness.

9 – Cut into 4x6cm (1.5inx 2.5in) rectangles.

10 – Bake air breads on a pizza stone for about 3 minutes at 240°C (about 450°F), or until golden brown.

Assembly with Caviaroli Olive Oil Caviar

1 – Wrap the air-baguette with bacon.

2 – Add baguettes to a long rectangular serving plate.

3 – Grate some truffle over the bacon-wrapped baguettes using a microplane.

4 – Lightly sprinkle each baguette with a pinch of sea salt.

5 – Top with olive oil caviar.

6 – Serve immediately

Thank you Chef Nandu Jubany for sharing this delightful traditional Catalan recipe with a modernist twist!