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Ciabatta, mmm... famous bread full of holes, perfect for a panini with lots of prosciutto and cheese. My opinion is that the best ciabatta is the one made at home, especially with sourdough starter. I leave the recipe and steps below. We will need 150 g sourdough starter ( oz) 450 g of flour ( oz) * (I use 650 flour - also called “bread flour“) 300 ml room temperature water ( fl oz) 9 g of salt (1 teaspoon) *I used 150 g of very active sourdough starter I leave the recipe for my sourdough starter at the end. Method of preparation In the morning, sourdough starter is eaten 50 g starter sourdough, from the fridge ( oz) 50 ml of room temperature water ( fl oz) 50 g flour ( oz) Leave it at room temperature until it becomes very active, full of bubbles and doubles in volume. It always takes me 4/5 hours. The activation time of the sourdough starter depends on the ambient temperature. After your sourdough starter is active, start preparing the dough. In a large bowl, add the flour, sourdough starter, water and salt. Knead (you can knead by hand until you get a homogeneous dough, about 5 minutes, or with a stand mixer, about 20 minutes) After kneading the dough, cover the bowl with a large towel or a lid. Leave the dough at room temperature for an hour, in the meantime do a series of folding and stretching. After an hour, the dough is put in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours. After 10-12 hours of cold fermentation, the dough is removed from the refrigerator. *(you will get a dough full of bubbles and very fluffy) Remove the dough from the bowl, divide it into 4 parts, form balls, dust the balls with flour and cover with a towel. The balls are left at room temperature for 1 hour (it may take longer if the ambient temperature is lower than 20 degrees C / 68 degrees F) After you notice that the dough has become active, that is, air bubbles appear on it, you can start forming the loaves. Work the dough very finely, so as not to lose the air bubbles. * In the video it is shown up close how I keep the bubbles in the dough. * Use more flour for dusting, to avoid the dough sticking to your hands and the table. * If you notice that the dough is too sticky, fold the formed balls once more, and let them rise for another 30 minutes. After forming the bread, turn it upside down and place it on a tray lined with baking paper or a silicone mat, something that doesn't stick. * At this point, the oven should already be preheated to 230 C / 446 F Place the tray in the oven, on the bottom of the oven, and reduce the temperature to 220 C / 428F The ciabatta is baked for 30-35 minutes, or until you notice that it has a brown crust. (baking time differs from oven to oven!) * During baking, you can change the position of the pan in the middle, if you notice that the bread is browning too much underneath. (this still differs from oven to oven) * This amount of dough makes 4 ciabatta. You can bake them all together, if the pan allows, or two on one pan, and 2 on another pan, switching them in the middle of baking (in this case, baking may take longer, about 40-45 minutes.) After removing the bread from the oven, do not cover the bread with anything! Leave it at room temperature, preferably on a cooling rack, until it cools down a bit. This way you will keep your crust crispy. Enjoy with pleasure, both hot and cold! Sourdough starter recipe 100% wholemeal sourdough bread
