Homemade Ciabatta Bread (dutch oven and no dutch oven versions)
Homemade ciabatta bread takes a little bit of extra effort, but it is SO worth it! A crispy outside and a soft chewy texture inside. Plus those those signature air pockets. This is my GO TO ciabatta bread recipe!
Equipment
- Parchment paper
- baking sheet
- Spray bottle
Ingredients
For the sponge:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (unbleached unenriched) sub white wheat flour
- ⅛ teaspoon instant yeast
- ½ cup water at room temperature
For the dough
- 2 cups bread flour sub white wheat bread flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon pink sea salt
- ½ teaspoon instant yeast
- ¾ cup water at room temperature
- ¼ cup organic plain yogurt
For kneading/rolling:
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
How to make the ciabatta sponge (aka pre ferment):
- In a bowl add the 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, ⅛ teaspoon instant yeast, and ½ cup of room temperature water.1 cup all-purpose flour (unbleached unenriched), ⅛ teaspoon instant yeast, ½ cup water at room temperature
- Mix until it forms a ball.
- Cover your bowl tightly with plastic wrap (or a beeswax wrap like I use to be eco friendly). A thick towel also works.
- Let your sponge sit at room temperature for 8-24 hours or until it looks very bubbly and has tripled in size.(the warmer your kitchen, the faster it will ferment & form air bubbles)
How to make the ciabatta bread dough:
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, add 2 cups of bread flour, 1 ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon instant yeast, ¾ cup room temperature water, ¼ cup plain yogurt, and the sponge.2 cups bread flour, 1 ½ teaspoon pink sea salt, ½ teaspoon instant yeast, ¾ cup water at room temperature, ¼ cup organic plain yogurt
- Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for ~1 minute. Turn the mixer off and scrape the bowl as needed.
- Increase the speed to medium low and mix for ~4-6 minutes, or until the the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a uniform mass.
- Change to a hook attachment.
- Mix on medium low speed for ~10 minutes or until the dough becomes shiny and comes together more.
- The dough will be very sticky.
- Carefully transfer the dough to a clean bowl. Cover it with a towel and let it rise somewhere warm for ~1 hour.
- Drizzle the top of the dough with ~1 tablespoon olive oil (or just wet your hand). Rub the oil over the dough. Stretch & fold the dough 6-8 times in the bowl. Cover the dough again and let it rise ~30 minutes.2 tablespoon olive oil
- After 30 minutes, repeat the step above one more time:Drizzle the top of the dough with ~1 tablespoon olive oil (or just wet your hand). Rub the oil over the dough. Stretch & fold the dough 6-8 times in the bowl. Cover the dough again and let it rise ~30 minutes.
HOW TO FORM YOUR LOAVES OF CIABATTA:
- After the second 30 minute rise, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and place 2 Dutch ovens to heat up in your oven.
- While the oven and Dutch oven heats, form your loaves. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured counter top.Cut the dough in half with a floured knife (this helps prevent the dough from sticking to the knife).
- Stretch each of the halves of dough into a rough 12x6 inch rectangle. **TRY NOT TO DEFLATE THE BUBBLES.
- Fold the rectangle like you would a letter (in thirds): the first short side towards the middle, then the last side on top of the middle.
- Sprinkle medium-coarse cornmeal across a small piece of parchment paper. Carefully flip each loaf onto the cornmeal so that it is seam side down. Cover the loaves with your towel and let them rest about 30 minutes.
HOW TO BAKE CIABATTA BREAD IN YOUR DUTCH OVEN.
- After 30 minutes, take the hot dutch ovens from your oven. Remove the lids. Carefully put one ciabatta loaf into each dutch oven, seam side down (this is where the parchment paper helps transfer the loaves into the dutch oven). Place the lid back on the dutch oven.
- Bake at 450F for 15 minutes, covered.Remove the lids and bake an additional 10 minutes at 450F.
- Once the tops of your ciabatta loaves are golden brown, remove the dutch ovens. Transfer the ciabatta loaves to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Slice and enjoy!
- Store ciabatta bread covered tightly at room temperature for up to 1-2 days, it goes stale very quickly! Store in the freezer for up to a month!
Video
Notes
CIABATTA BREAD WITHOUT DUTCH OVEN DIRECTIONS:
- Follow all ciabatta dutch oven directions until you get to the folding the two bread loaves. Now, instead of heating the dutch oven in your oven, simply preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2 trays with parchment paper.
- Form the 2 loaves exactly the same as above, by stretching into a rectangle and then folding like a letter. Place each of the formed loaves seam side down on the parchment paper lined sheet. Rest the same as the above loaves, for 30 minutes while the oven heats.
- After 30 minutes, flour your fingers. Gently poke the entire surface to form a 10x6 rectangle, trying not to poke any of the bubbles.
- Place trays on the center rack of the oven.
- Use a spray bottle to spray the ciabatta loaves with water 3x during the first 4-5 minutes of baking (this is about every minute and a half). This creates steam for a crispy ciabatta shell. Make sure to rotate the pan so all sides are sprayed.
- After you finished spraying the ciabatta bread for the third time, bake an additional 22 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
- Remove your bread from the oven and allow it to cool on a wire rack.
Nutrition
Serving: 2slicesCalories: 116kcalCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 5gFat: 2.8gPotassium: 12mgCalcium: 13.5mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!