Call it ciabatta or chapata; it’s the same fluffy bread with a crunchy crust we all love.
Originally from Italy, it was first produced in 1982 by Arnaldo Cavallari near Venice. It was basically the Italian answer to the French baguette; today both pieces of bread are the base of most sandwiches being assembled around the world.
The basic recipe calls for wheat flour or whole-wheat flour, water, olive oil, yeast, and salt. Sure, that might be the recipe for any white bread in your cookbook; actually, there are dozens of variations for this recipe.
My recipe calls for powdered milk, vinegar, and a few spoonful’s of sugar, making the bread a bit more flavorful and sharper; it just has a warmer personality.
Let’s take a closer look at the ingredients.
What goes into my Homemade Ciabatta?
Premium-quality flour is essential to make a good ciabatta. Whether it’s whole-wheat or regular, you want the best you can get. Look for Premium, or Gold, written somewhere on the package.
Baker’s yeast, salt, butter, these are your regular bread ingredients. Just make sure you don’t skip any.
Milk powder is more of a unique ingredient. We’re basically making a ciabatta al latte since our recipe calls for milk. The result is simply rounder. Powdered milk will add all the texture and flavors of milk, without watering down the batter.
What you’ll need
For this recipe, you’ll need a big enough mixing bowl where the dough will rest and rise multiple times.
You’ll need a well-floured surface (make sure you’ve got enough space!) and a baking pan; we’ll be working on batches. A good old wooden spoon will do the rest.
Pro tips
- No kneading is required for these soft and spongy loaves of bread. The dough needs to rise three times to have these large holes characteristic for ciabatta rolls.
- It is baked on a hot pan, so the bottom side is crusty too.
- Tear open your ciabatta and give yourself a tap on the back for the lovely holes in the bread.
You’re ready for some great panini, pastrami sandwiches, and homemade cream cheese ciabatta spread.
PrintHomemade Ciabatta Bread
No kneading is required for these soft and spongy loaves of bread. The dough needs to rise three times to have these large holes characteristic for ciabatta rolls.
Ingredients
- 4 cups of lukewarm water
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1.5 oz fresh yeast
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 1/2 cup milk powder
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 7 cups of flour + additional 1-2 cups for dusting your work surface
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of water and 1 teaspoon sugar. Let this mixture stand until the yeast starts to foam.
- In a separate bowl add water, salt, sugar, milk powder, butter cut into pieces, and vinegar. Once mixed, add the prepared yeast mixture.
- Gradually add flour, mixing gently with a wooden spoon just to combine. The dough will be sticky but do not knead as you usually would when making breads. Just cover and leave it to rise.
- After first rise, mix again with a wooden spoon and let rise again. Repeat one more time.
- After the final rise, transfer the dough to a well-floured surface and form a smoother dough that you can cut into pieces.
- Form a little ball out of each piece; still do not over-knead.
- At this point turn on the oven to 450F and put your baking pan in the oven to warm it up.
- Once the oven reaches 450F and the pan is hot, the ciabatta doughs are ready to go into oven. This is done in batches.
- With your hands stretch each just a bit and place on the hot pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Repeat until all are done!
Notes
Season the dough with a pinch or two of Marjoram to create a Rome-style Ciabatta. Or sprinkle them with black sesame seeds.
