Italian Ciabatta Bread
Ciabatta is a rustic looking artisan bread with a chewy texture and air pockets, invented and made famous by the Italians in the eighties.
Equipment
- Electric kneader
- Medium bowl
- Large mixing bowl
- Bread maker (optional)
- Plastic scrapers
- Baking tray/parchment
- Measuring scale
Ingredients
For the pre-dough (biga)
- 300 g bread flour
- 300 ml lukewarm water
- 5 g yeast I prefer dried active, but fresh works well, too
for the wet dough
- 1 biga after it raised for 12 hours/overnight
- 700 g bread flour
- 350 ml lukewarm water
- 15 g yeast fresh/dried active
- 4 tbsp olive oil organic, extra virgin
- 1 tsp salt sea/rock
Instructions
Biga (pre-dough)
- Mix all the ingredients in a medium bowl, cover with clingfilm and allow it to rise overnight (12 hours).
Wet dough
- Place the biga in a large bowl or kneader bowl.
- Melt the yeast in the lukewarm water and add it to the bowl. Mix gently.
- Add half of the flour quantity and continue mixing. This dough is sticky and needs to rise. Cover with a tea towel and let it rest for two hours. While rising, it will form air pockets that should not be popped.
- When the two hours of resting time are up, add salt, oil and the remainder of the flour and mix again.
- You will obtain a humid and elastic dough. Pull and fold a few times on the working table.
- Place back in the bowl, cover with a tea towel and let rise for another hour.
- When the resting hour is up, shape the dough using scrapers or well-flowered hands.
- Split the dough into two parts, give each a cylindrical shape and roll them in flour. There is no need to knead again. Ciabatta is a wet bread, and extra flour can change the consistency of the dough.
- Pull from the edges until you obtain a slipper form, about 5-6 cm high. If the loaf is too high, pull the edges until obtaining the desired shape rather than pressing down.
- If you chose to use the Ciabatta for panini, divide the dough into 10-12 smaller pieces.
- Place a greasy baking paper on the tray and preheat the oven to 200°C fan oven/225°C static/437°F/gas mark 6.
- Place the bread on the baking tray. Leave about 10 cm between the loaves or 3-4 cm between the panini.
- Allow resting for another 45 minutes.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden and cool before preparing sandwiches or bruschette.
Notes
Ciabatta bread has to cool completely before cutting or preparing sandwiches.
Store in breadbin for 2-3 days or wrap in clingfilm and freeze for a maximum of three months. Defrost naturally, at room temperature before use.