Ciabatta Bread Recipe - Crispy
Outside, Soft Inside

Ciabatta bread recipe is characterized by a high-hydration dough: it starts with a yeast full of water called poolish serving as the basis for a second dough later.

Ciabatta is a bread from Veneto with a golden, crispy crust outside and a very airy crumb inside.

Typical long, flat shape of this bread just reminds a slipper (that in italian is Ciabatta), hence the name and used for delicious sandwiches.

Ingredients

Poolish: use sour dough if you have it or make poolish like this ...

• 3.50 oz pastry flour
• 7 oz Manitoba or other strong flour
• 10.5 oz water
• 0.1 oz dried yeast (0.3 oz where fresh)

Dough:

• 7 oz pastry flour
• 14 oz Manitoba flour
• 10.5 oz water
• 0.15 oz dried yeast (0.45 oz where fresh)
• 0.35 oz Malt or sugar
• 0.7 oz Salt

Durum wheat Q.S. for the work surface

Preparation

Step 1: To make Ciabatta bread recipe, begin to knead the poolish: dissolve it in the water, then mix the two sifted flour in a bowl, both pastry and manitoba, and gently pouring the liquid on the dough.

Step 2: Mix well with a wooden spoon until it's homogenous, smooth and very soft. Cover it with plastic wrap and let rise for about 3 hours at room temperature. Then, the poolish will look more bloated, bubbly and with a slightly darker color.

Step 3: Proceed with the second dough: dissolve yeast and malt in the water, stir together the sifted flours and pour the poolish in the bowl of a food processor with the dough blade. If you do not have it you can mix in a bowl with a spoon.

Step 4: While the food processor is on at medium speed, add, alternating, both the liquid and the powders. When all the ingredients are gathered around the blade, add the salt and continue for another 5-7 minutes, until the dough will be wrapped around the blade.

Step 5: At this point of Ciabatta bread recipe, remove the dough and place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour in a warm place. After this time, put the dough on a floured work surface plenty of durum wheat. Slightly flatten the dough and divide into 10 pieces that weigh about 5.5 oz each.

Step 6: Let rise the dough balls, taking care to place them with the cut side up. Sprinkle with durum wheat flour, cover with plastic wrap to prevent the dough from drying surface and let rise for at least 1 hour and a half, in a warm environment. After this time the dough balls will double in volume.

Step 7: Now take a ball dough at a time, turn it over and put it on a baking sheet into preheated oven, covered with baking paper. Stretch the dough and bake to 460-480° (420-440° where ventilated) for the first 8 minutes. Then, lower the temperature to 350/390° for another 8 minutes. Continue cooking for other 3-4 minutes, keeping the oven slightly open, to get a crispy crust. So let cool and serve.

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