Homemade Ciabatta 

Delicious lunch recipe by Edd Kimber, The Boy Who Bakes

Ingredients

Makes 6

Pre-Ferment

  • 150g 00 pizza flour
  • 75ml cool water
  • 1g fast-action dried yeast 

For the dough

  • 325ml lukewarm water (around 21-22ºC)
  • 2g fast-action dried yeast
  • 350g 00 pizza flour
  • 10g fine sea salt
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

  • To make the pre-ferment, known as a biga, add the flour, water and yeast to a bowl and mix to form a dough. Don’t worry about this being perfectly combined; you just want to form it into a rough dough. Cover and leave at room temperature for 16-24 hours until the dough is slightly domed and full of bubbles.

  • To make the main dough, break up the biga into small pieces and add to the bowl of your stand mixer. Pour in the water, yeast and remaining flour. With the dough hook attachment, mix on medium speed for 5 minutes. Add the salt and oil and mix again until combined. Continue mixing for a further 10-15 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic and no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl.  

  • Tip the dough out onto the work surface and shape it into a ball. Try to avoid adding excess flour. Place the ball of dough, seam side down, into a greased rectangular container (I used one that measures 15x20). Leave for 30 minutes before performing a set of coil folds. To do this, use both hands to go under the dough and lift it from the middle, lifting slightly towards yourself, until one end releases from the container. Lower the dough to allow this loosened end to tuck itself under the middle of the dough. Repeat this process, but lift slightly away from yourself so the other end releases from the container this time. Lower as before, so this second end also tucks itself under the middle of the dough. Turn the container 90º and repeat this process a second time. Cover the dough and leave for another 30 minutes before repeating this process a second time. 

Method cont.

  • Once both sets of coil folds have been performed, cover the dough and leave until it has doubled in size. At room temperature this can take up to 2 hours.  

  • Liberally dust the work surface with flour (don't worry, you can't really add too much at this stage) and carefully turn out the dough. Very gently shape the dough into a neat rectangle, using light hands to avoid knocking out too much air. Use a bench scraper to cut the dough into 2 long rectangles and then each rectangle into 3 finished pieces of dough. Using very gentle hands, stretch each piece of dough to elongate slightly. Use the bench scraper to flip each ciabatta over, placing them onto parchment-lined baking trays, 3 per tray. Cover lightly and set aside for an hour until risen and puffy.

  • To bake ciabatta, you want to add steam to the oven. To do this you can add a roasting tin filled with water, but since I have a new oven, I was able to use the steam bake setting. Preheat the oven to 220ºC or 200ºC using a fan-assisted oven, preferably using a baking stone or steel. I am using my AEG 7000 Mealassist with SteamCrisp Oven set to the ?? Setting. If using another oven, place a roasting dish in the bottom of the oven and fill with hot water. Using the AEG oven, simply open the water reservoir on the front of the oven and fill with water. Once preheated, load the ciabatta into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. After that time is up, open the oven to allow any steam to escape, and then, if using the AEG oven, simply turn the oven to the ‘hot air’ Setting. If using another oven, remove the roasting tin from the oven. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the bread is golden brown. This second stage of baking ensures the crust bakes up nice and crisp.

  • Remove the bread from the oven and tip the ciabatta onto a wire rack to cool. Kept in a sealed container, this bread will keep for up to 3 days but can also be frozen for at least a month.