The Perfect Sourdough Ciabatta Bread
My son loves ciabatta bread. He has been asking me to make him some for sometime now. So for the past couple of months I have been working on creating a sourdough ciabatta bread recipe that is gut friendly, light and airy and crispy on the outside. Being yeast free it is easier on many to digest, as well as the long fermentation time that helps it to be easier to digest as well.
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Ciabatta bread is the perfect vessel for unlimited sandwiches. My son may be the only teenager that comes home for lunch during school and makes himself and proscuitto, burrata, arugula, baslamic reduction and pesto on a sourdough ciabatta bun.
I cant blame him, it is a divine sandwich, he spends a lot of time creating amazing recipes like this. So, I am tasked to make the bread so that he can create the sandwiches.
This sourdough ciabatta bread is a the perfect bread for sandwiches. Its thin and airy, with a tender, open crumb. The outer crust is crisp and firm enough to stand up to the sandwich fillings. It has a chewy texture that works well for sandwiches.
new to sourdough bread?
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TOOLS YOU’LL NEED
Sourdough ciabatta bread is a high hydration dough. High hydration simply put, means that it has more water in it. Its a more wet dough. Some are intimidated by higher hydration dough, but as long as you develop the gluten in the dough, it is workable.
In order to have a successful sourdough bread, you need an active starter.
How to know if your starter is active:
HERE ARE A FEW THINGS TO LOOK FOR A COUPLE HOURS AFTER FEEDING
Sourdough Ciabatta Bread
Equipment
- bench scraper
- large mixing bowl
- food scale
Ingredients
- 360 grams water about 1.5 cups
- 12 grams salt about 2 tsp
- 450 grams bread flour about 3.5 cups
- 100 grams active sourdough starter About 1/2 cup
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, measure out your water and sourdough starter. Mix together thoroughly.
- Add the flour and salt, mix to combine all ingredients completely.
- Cover and let sit for 1 hour.
- Begin your stretch and folds after 1 hour. This dough is much more sticky than other doughs. It will become less stick but still runny as you do the stretch and folds.
- Lift one corner of the dough and fold it over itself. Life the next corner and repeat the action. Do this 4-6 times and then cover and let sit 30 minutes. Repeat the stretch and folds 3-4 times.
- Once you are done with the stretch and folds, allow the dough to bulk ferment. I like to mix my dough at night and let it bulk ferment on the counter overnight. You can also make this in the morning, and let it bulk ferment throughout the day.
- Once the dough has almost doubled in size, its time to shape into rolls.
- NOTE: You can also place this dough in the fridge overnight if you desire.
- Pour the dough on a well-floured surface. Carefully shape the dough into a rectangle. Sprinkle flour over the top of the dough as well to make it easier to work with.
- Once you have the dough shaped into a rectangle, use your bench scraper to cut the dough into rolls.
- I like to cut the long side in half and then cut those into 4 pieces each. You should get 8 rolls/loaves.
- Place them on a sheet pan that has been lined with parchment paper.
- You can use the dough scraper to lift them and place them down carefully.
- Cover and let them rise fore 1-2 hours.
- Bake them in a preheated 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Place some ice cubes on a pan inside the oven to create some steam for the rolls.
- Bake until golden brown. Let them cool completely on a wire rack. Cut in half and fill with your favorite sandwich fillings. They also make great toasted breads for soups or pastas.
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So glad I found this recipe. My husband is Italian and hew was just craving ciabatta rolls the other day. The sourdough element was fun to try and worked great.