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Open Crumb Sourdough Ciabatta

27/5/2020

27 Comments

 
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Here is a recipe for a perfect ciabatta bread! Ciabatta means "slipper" and is so named because it's flat, oval shape resembles a well-worn slipper. It is from Veneto in the north of Italy.
It's crunchy and brown on the outside and bubbly and fluffy on the inside. This ciabatta bread makes great sandwiches or can be eaten even as a daily bread served just with extra virgin olive oil.

This is a bread with a very high content of liquid and therefore a very hard bread to make by hand if you are a beginner. It is a very wet and sticky dough so if you prefer feel free to use a kitchen aid but do not be tempted to add more flour or it will change the dynamic of this great recipe and you will lose that perfect open crumb texture! If you are a beginner we suggest you to try first our Easy Ciabatta recipe. 
Makes 2  large Ciabatte

Ingredients
  • 140g sourdough starter (nice and bubbly) 
  • 350g water 
  • 400g strong white flour
  • 25g extra virgin olive oil
  • 10g salt
  • Semolina for sprinkle 
  • Olive oil

Method
  1. To start pre-measured all of the ingredients.
  2. In a bowl or kitchen aid bowl mix the water and sourdough starter. Now add the flour and with a dough scraper or wooden spoon mix well and vigorously for about 5 minutes until there are no more bits of dry flour and it forms a very shaggy dough. Now add  the salt and mix well for another 2 minutes so that the salt is fully incorporated into the dough. 
  3. If kneading by hand, transfer the dough onto a lightly floured work surface making sure there is no dough or flour left inside the bowl. Add a spoon of olive oil into your hands and spread it all around like if you were washing your hands. This method will help so that the dough will not stick as much in your hands when kneading. With your oily hands pick up the dough and start to slap and fold the dough on the table. Do this for about a 6 minutes. (If you don't know how to slap and fold the dough, there are plenty of videos on YouTube for you to watch, it is easier to watch this process than try to explain using words!). Add a small drizzle of olive oil to the bowl and spread it all around. Place the dough back inside the bowl and cover. Let it rest for 30 minutes. 
  4. If using a kitchen aid, working with a dough hook, mix the dough on medium high speed for 8/10 mins. until smooth and shiny (the dough will be very sticky). Now remove the bowl from the kitchen aid and cover the bowl with a dump tea towel or a clean shower cup. Let it rest for 30 minutes. 
  5. After 30 minutes from the first rest start the coil fold technique. To make a coil fold in your dough rinse your hands in water and gently lift the dough with both hands from the middle until one end releases from the bowl. Gently lower the dough to allow the loosened end to tuck under the middle, and repeat with the other side. The dough should now look like it is coiled over itself. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees, and repeat this process until the dough does not stretch very far anymore, and holds its shape. Repeat this coil fold 3 more times, resting the dough 30 minutes each time. The dough will strenghten more and more after each coil fold! Between the folds make sure to cover the bowl with the lid or cling film.  This technique is used in high hydration dough and it gives a better structure to the final dough. 
  6. After the final fold, leave the dough to prove in the same bowl for 6 - 8 hours at room temperature. For a slow rise, place the dough in the fridge overnight or for around 16 hours - this will improve the flavour and aroma of your bread.
  7. Once the dough is perfectly proved and fermented, turn the oven on to  230°C fan and place a small tray at the bottom of the oven. Line a large baking tray with baking paper and sprinkle some semolina all over. 
  8. On an open table heavily flour the top of the dough and your work surface. Gently or you might deflate the dough turn the bowl upside down to release the dough onto the floured work surface. Now sprinkle the top of the dough with some more flour all over.
  9. Flour the scraper and divide the dough into 2 equal parts or into 4 smaller one. Always with the help of the scraper try to gently separate one ciabatta from the other. Do not worry if they don't have a perfect shape, try not to handle the dough too much as you want to keep as much air in as possible for the perfect light texture. 
  10. Heavily flour your hands and transfer them into the tray by sliding your fingers under each end of the ciabatta and quickly transfer it, keeping some space between the two ciabatte. Let them rest for 15 minutes.
  11. Once the oven reach the temperature put your ciabatte in the middle of  the oven and straight after add half glass of cold water into the small tray at the bottom and quickly close the oven. This will produce steam which helps the bread to rise.
  12. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Do not be afraid of the colour when baking bread, the ciabatta needs a proper crust or the structure of the crumble will collapse. Once the ciabatta is out of the oven, let it cool down on a cooling rack for at least 2 hours or even better overnight. Make a sandwich or simply drizzle some good extra virgin olive oil on top and enjoy!
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27 Comments
Ivan link
17/9/2020 07:54:00 pm

Struck by lack of yeast in your recipe

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Our Cooking Journey link
20/1/2023 10:20:38 am

If you are talking about Sourdough Starter then It's about 35% in this recipe. It's probably the highest amount of Sourdough starter I would use in a recipe.

Reply
Mel
2/2/2021 09:00:40 pm

AMAZING recipe. I LOVE this dough - so easy to work with! I didn’t do the slap and fold, instead I did the Rubaud method. The finished bread was light, airy, chewy, and just a hint of sourdough. But the entire family loved it and my 5yr old can’t stand sourdough or super chewy/crunchy bread - she LOVED this! Will definitely make this again. So good!

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Our Cooking Journey link
20/1/2023 10:23:16 am

Thank you so much for your comment Mel! It's not an easy one to make, but it looks like it was for you! Feel free to tag us and share your ciabatta bread with us on instagram or facebook, we would love to see the outcome.

Reply
Rina
4/2/2021 09:03:30 pm

I have been baking with sourdough starter for 4 years now & everyone loves fresh bread in our Italian origin family. Pizza, baguettes, fruit bread, focaccia, crumpets....now ciabatta!
Amazing recipe and perfect crumb! Thanks for the recipe....l will be making this very regularly. 😉

Reply
Our Cooking Journey link
20/1/2023 10:25:22 am

Grazie Rina! Great to hear you loved the recipe! Feel free to tag us and share your ciabatta bread with us on instagram or facebook, we would love to see the outcome.

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Elaine
11/4/2021 05:49:43 am

Hi, can you share your starter recipe, please. I’m still looking around your site. Thank you.

Reply
Our Cooking Journey link
20/1/2023 10:36:31 am

Hey Elaine, please check out our blog post "All you need to know about Sourdough Starter" ( https://www.ourcookingjourney.com/blog-articles/all-you-need-to-know-about-sourdough-starter ).
You can find all the infos there. Thank you!

Reply
John A Nevin
10/9/2021 12:00:43 am

Unless my scale went haywire, this recipe has nowhere near enough flour. I get the point of high hydration to achieve the right crumb, but my dough was practically soup until I added 50 more grams of flour. Proofing now, fingers crossed on how it turns out when I bake tomorrow.

Reply
Lucia
3/11/2021 03:35:41 pm

My dough mixture was also like soup. Recipe doesn’t work, and I wonder if American flour could be that much different.

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Ken
30/12/2021 07:49:38 pm

The "soup" will become dough through diligent stretching/folding. I have also had great success whipping the dough in a KitchenAid mixer with the whip attachment; it takes 10-15 minutes of high-speed whipping to coalesce, but the result is dough like nothing I have seen before!

Our Cooking Journey link
20/1/2023 11:09:34 am

Hey Lucia! Thanks for your comment. Same for you as per John experience above. If you don't have much experience of handling a dough like this by hand then try using a KitchenAid. I know it is a very wet dough but don't be tempted to add any extra flour as it will change the outcome. Lastly make sure you are using a very strong good quality flour.

Thank you

Our Cooking Journey link
20/1/2023 11:15:38 am

Thank you Ken! And very well said. Let us know how did the outcome of the ciabatta was by sharing it and tagging us on Instagram and Facebook! We would love to see it!

Thank you.

Our Cooking Journey link
20/1/2023 11:17:04 am

Hey John! Thanks for your comment. I hope it turned out well at the end? This recipe has been tested few times and the measurements are correct. The recipe have a very high content of water compare to any other recipe you have probably tried before, so I can understand if you have found yourself into getting the right gluten structure at the beginning.
If you don't have much experience of mixing a dough like this by hand then using a KitchenAid mixer like you did it's a good idea, but try to don't add any extra flour as it will change the outcome. Lastly make sure you are using a very strong good quality flour.

Thank you

Reply
John Nevin
30/12/2021 11:17:08 pm

Thanks for the update regarding the "soupy" nature of this dough. Will try the method recommended using my Kitchenaid.

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Carol
7/3/2022 03:51:09 pm

What a messy Blob!!! I have wasted hours of my life I’ll never get back tending to this Blob, I even added more flour and it’s no going anywhere…. I’ve made ciabatta’s before and they were never like this. This recipe is taking up time and space on my device so I’ll hit the Delete on this one! 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻

Reply
Our Cooking Journey link
20/1/2023 11:41:37 am

Hey Carol! I'm sorry you had a terrible time making this recipe. It is quite hard to make this recipe especially if you never had experience before with this type of very wet dough.
The other ciabatta recipes you have tried before I'm sure they were requiring an amount of water lower than this one and therefore easier to knead but also with a less open crumb compare to what this recipe can be.

If you are looking for an easier recipe why don't try our "Easy Ciabatta Bread" recipe instead? ( https://www.ourcookingjourney.com/all-the-recipes-our-cooking-journey/easy-ciabatta-bread ) .

Thank you

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Patricia
23/3/2022 07:23:53 pm

Turned out great. Too bad I can’t send pictures. I have been making bread with levito madre for about a year now.

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Carol
13/7/2022 11:48:57 pm

I just googled what Lievito Madre is, and I must say, I’m intrigued! I will make this over the next few weeks! It might be a more robust starter- sounds like it!

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Our Cooking Journey link
20/1/2023 11:46:19 am

Hey Patricia, thank you for your comment. We would love to see the outcome, feel free to share it and tag us on Instagram and Facebook!

Thank you

Reply
Liz little
9/6/2022 11:41:34 pm

I’m trying out this recipe right now, it is very soupy couldn’t really do the slap method.. it was more like pour n scoop pour n scoop, we’ll see after the coil folds.. will keep y’all posted.



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Carol
13/7/2022 09:38:40 pm

This recipe was a fail for me. It’s possible that my starter was a little weaker than usual, or I really think that I just don’t do well with high hydration kind of bread dough. I might try it again with a stronger starter, but won’t get my hopes up. I wish the author of this recipe would comment on some of these reviews, that would be nice.

Reply
Our Cooking Journey link
20/1/2023 11:50:45 am

Hey Carol, thank you for keeping us posted.
You are right, it is possibile that your starter was weak and working with high hydration dough isn't easy, it required a lot of practice.

Try again with a stronger starter and adding an extra 50 gr of strong white flour at the beginning, that it should definitely help!

Thank you

Reply
Liz little
24/7/2022 03:51:40 pm

Tried this recipe again this time I added more flour.. first time it was too soupy to do the slap method so I add about a cup more as I slapped and folded till I got a good consistency.
The recipe needs to be corrected.

Reply
Our Cooking Journey link
20/1/2023 12:01:37 pm

Hey Liz. Thank you for your comments.
Working with high hydration dough isn't easy, it requires a lot of practice and patience.
The recipe has been tested many times before posting on here but as we all know the environment can change the recipe, depending on the altitude, humidity and many more thing.
We are not talking just about water salt yeast and flour when we talk about bread, there are many other factors to include.

You did well to add more flour if that worked for you. We would love to see the outcome, feel free to share it and tag us on Instagram and Facebook!

Thank you

Reply
Vidar
2/2/2023 04:50:51 pm

Really good one. I’ve made this several times and it works perfectly. I do not relate to the negative comments above.

Reply
Our Cooking Journey link
3/2/2023 07:43:58 am

Great to hear Vidar! We would love to see the outcome. Feel free to share it and tag us on Instagram and Facebook!

Thank you

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