Sourdough Ciabatta Bread
Sourdough Ciabatta Bread
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 8 Ciabatta Rolls 1x
Description
This sourdough ciabatta bread is light and airy on the inside with an extra crispy crust. It’s perfectly chewy with a delicious slightly tangy flavor. This recipe makes 6-8 ciabatta rolls that are great for sandwiches, dipping in olive oil, or any way you love to enjoy fresh homemade ciabatta! It’s made with a blend of organic whole-grain flour and is naturally fermented, so it’s gut healthy and nutritious!
Ingredients
Scale
- 350g Bread Flour (Half White Bread Flour or White Bread Flour). See notes section regarding flour options
- 50g Whole Wheat Flour (12.5%)
- 320g Water (80%)
- 80g Sourdough Starter (20%). Must be active starter.
- 8g salt (2%).
Instructions
- Feed Your Starter: You’ll want to feed your starter about 8-12 hours before you plan to mix all of the ingredients together. Since this recipe calls for 80g of active, bubbly starter, it makes sense to feed at least 70 grams of water and 70g of flour the night before if you’re planning to mix the following morning. You’ll remove 80g the next day for this recipe, and you should have just enough on hand to refeed to maintain your starter.
- Mix and Initial Stretch & Fold Set: Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix with your hands for a few minutes until all ingredients are incorporated. If using a dough mixer, you can mix the dough on low for 2 minutes. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes, and then perfect stretch and folds for 1-3 minutes or until the dough feels smooth and it becomes difficult to stretch out. This process helps your dough keep its form through the bulk fermentation.
- Bulk Fermentation: Bulk fermentation is simply the process of letting your dough ferment at room temperature until it nearly doubles in size. It usually takes about 4-7 hours depending on the temperature of your home and the strength of your starter. For this step, you’re going to perform 3-5 sets of stretch and folds every 1hr throughout the duration of the bulk fermentation. You do not need to be perfect with timing when it comes to stretch and folds! It’s most important to get a couple of sets in during the beginning of the bulk. I don’t bother timing stretch and folds anymore just aim for at least 4 sets of stretch and folds.
- Shape: Now before shaping, you’ll want to prepare your proofing basket. Line your proofing basket with a kitchen towel or liner if you have one, and lightly dust with flour. Lightly flour your work surface, and sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough as well.
- Flip the dough over, laying the flour side down on the counter. Your dough should look like a long rectangular-ish shape.
- Grab the bottom edge of the dough and fold it up and over the middle to form a one-third fold.
- Now grab the bottom two corners and fold them towards the middle so they overlap.
- Now fold the top edge towards the middle about halfway.
- Now, stitch the dough by taking the top corners and folding it over itself. Repeat this fold until you reach the bottom – it’s sort of like rolling up a sleeping bag. When you’re done, pick up the dough and place it in the proofing basket, upside down, with the newly created seam facing up. Here’s a great shaping video for reference.
- When you’re done, pick up the dough and place it in the proofing basket, upside down, with the newly created seam facing up.
- Overnight Rise: Now it’s time to lay your dough baby to rest and pop her in the fridge. First, you’ll need to cover it to prevent the exterior of the dough from drying out. I use these elastic dough covers. After you’ve covered the dough, place it in the fridge and let it hang out there for anywhere from 12 to 24 hours.
- Form Rolls: Remove dough from the fridge. Sprinkle flour on top of dough and turn dough out onto work surface. Pat dough into a rectangle and sprinkle the top with flour. Use a bench scraper to cut the dough into 8 small rectangles — cut the dough in half vertically, and then make equally spaced cuts to make 8 small rectangles.
- Final Proof: Transfer each rectangle to a greased or lined baking sheet. Cover with a towel and proof at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Bake: Preheat oven to 500f. Transfer rectangles to a pan and bake for 10 minutes at 450f. Lower temp to 450f, rotate pan, and bake or 10 more minutes.
- Let Cool: Once the rolls are done baking, let them cool fully and enjoy!
Notes
This recipe calls for either white bread flour or half white bread flour (also known as high extraction bread flour or Type 85 flour. White bread flour will result in a ciabatta that is lighter, airier, with greater volume. Half white flour will yield a bread that is slightly denser, with more flavor and much greater nutritional value (because it contains more of the whole grain (bran and germ).
- Fermentation Time: 18-20 Hours
- Cook Time: 20 Minutes
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