A nearly foolproof recipe to make your own, homemade Italian ciabatta bread in under four hours!
Ciabatta is my favorite Italian bread, but it is not always the easiest and quickest bread to make, even for a seasoned baker.
The dough is rather wet and sticky and can seem impossible to work with when you're new to the process, but that wet stickiness is also vital to the light, bubbly, airy texture of this bread.
This also is a bread that requires some planning ahead because you need to let the starter stand overnight or at least several hours. And planning ahead is not my favorite thing to do.
I was resigned to making ciabatta only when I have the time, which is not often, until I came upon a great technique that cuts down the waiting significantly.
The initial rise time for this ciabatta is under two hours, and the second rise is just about an hour. So in under four hours, including prep and baking time, you are rewarded with a fluffy, crusty, delicious bread that you won't be able to stop dunking in olive oil and popping into your mouth. Imagine that.
I have a busy Sunday, so I can't chat too long. My neighbor Heather and I are trapping some feral cats in our neighborhood and I am transporting them to the spay and neuter clinic this afternoon. But before I say ta-ta, here's the recipe. Enjoy, all!
Make these vegan breads next:
- Sourdough Olive and Sage Loaf
- Sourdough Pretzels
- Vegan Olive Oil Brioche with Aquafaba
- The Best Sourdough Sandwich Bread, Yeast Free
Quick Ciabatta
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
- 2 ¼ cups warm (not hot) water (you might need more if you are in a dryer area)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon sugar (not usually found in traditional ciabatta, but it really helps speed the rise)
Instructions
- Mix the sugar, water and yeast in a bowl and set aside for five minutes for the yeast to start working.
- Add the flour and salt and mix in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. You want the mixture to be just slightly thicker than a pancake batter-- it should definitely not pull together into a firm dough.
- Let the mixture stand for about 15 minutes. Then turn on the stand mixer to a medium-high setting. After about six minutes, the dough will start to make a flapping sound and start rising up the sides of the bowl.
- At this point, switch the paddle for the dough hook and knead for another six to seven minutes until the dough starts pulling cleanly off the sides of the bowl. It will be smooth at this stage but still very sticky and loose.
- Grease a bowl and pour the dough into it. Cover with a plastic wrap or kitchen towel and place in a warm spot, like an oven with the pilot light on.
- In about 1 ½ to 2 hours, the dough would have tripled.
- Prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with parchment paper and then dusting the paper liberally with flour.
- Pour the dough out of the bowl and into the center of the cookie sheet. Dust the top with flour.
- Using a bench scraper, divide the dough into two pieces. Using the bench scraper and a wet hand if needed, shape the dough, tucking the irregular pieces underneath, until you have two flat logs. The logs should be about six inches apart. This is a rustic bread, and the wet dough is not going to hold a definite shape, so don't even try for a beautiful, even look. This is known as an Italian slipper bread for a reason. The baked bread will turn out absolutely gorgeous, trust me, with a translucent, lit-from-within look and those gorgeous air holes.
- Dust some more flour over the logs, then cover them with a loose kitchen towel and place in a warm spot for about an hour or until the logs are risen and all puffy-looking.
- About half an hour before baking, preheat the oven to 500 degrees with a pizza stone or baking stone in place. Place an empty pan in the bottom rack while preheating, then add a cup of water to it just before you place the bread in the oven.
- Place the ciabatta loaves directly on the baking stone by sliding the parchment off your cookie sheet. If you are really not sure how to do this, just place the entire baking sheet on top of the baking stone.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until the loaves are golden-brown and the bottom sounds hollow then tapped.
- Cool thoroughly on a rack.
Elli
What mixing speed should the bread hook be on?
Vaishali
Medium--around four would be fine.
Andrea
What do should you do if you do not have a baking stone?
Vaishali
Just use a baking sheet.
Jennifer
Incredible recipe with fantastic results. I've made this twice this week. We are so impressed with it that I'm dumping my previous artisan recipe which was decent but not as delicious and airy as this. Thank you for providing such a simple recipe that is ready to bake the same day.
Vaishali
Hi Jennifer, so happy to hear.
Nicholas Fazio
Can you post weight measurements. Or ratio.
Marion
Hi,
Ive started making it but realise the high temperature needed to cook…. It says 500 degrees but my oven only goes as high at 220 degrees- what should I do??
Vaishali
Hi Marion, your temps are prob marked in celsius-- mine are in Fahrenheit. 220 degrees C is about 425 Fahrenheit. That could still be a bit low for the ciabatta because it needs a strong burst of heat, but you could try setting your oven to the highest point and see if it works.
The Unruly Gardener
This was my third try at a ciabatta recipe, and THIS IS THE RECIPE! Stickiest dough I have ever seen; just slid it onto the baking steel parchment and all. Definitely used the steam. Just ate two slices for my dinner, with an amazing Tuscan olive oil, a little salt and pepper, and a dry white. I thought I was in my favorite Italian restaurant!
Vaishali
🙂 So happy to hear!
Mel
HOLY CRAP MY BREAD TURNED OUT AMAZING. Airy, chewy inside, crispy perfect outside. Thanks for this recipe. You have changed my bread life.
Val
Exactly by the book. I left my dough overnight in cool place. Trippled by morning , produced two loaves weighing 425g each. On parchment and in oven now. I'm thrilled with the ease of the recipe!
Vaishali
So happy to hear, Val!
Anonymous
Amazing recipe!!
Karen Manning
At what stage can the dough be frozen?
Vaishali
After the first rise, usually, for any bread dough.
Jay
Came out gorgeous -- so moist and tender and airy inside with that perfectly crisp crust. I don't have a stand mixer, and I managed to do it with a Danish dough whisk -- it was a bit of a workout, but SO worth it.
Sarah
I bake a lot of bread and this is one of my favorites. Thank for this recipe, it surely saved me some time.
Rina
I don’t have a pizza stone. Can I bake it while still on the cookie sheet?
Anonymous
Absolutely.and leave it on parchment paper
Brittany
How do you store this bread?
Joanna
I can only find instant yeast. Can that be used the same way instead of the active dry yeast? Thank you.
Melissa
I only buy/use instant yeast! First rise 30 minutes 2nd rise 45 minutes is perfect for this bread! Always double check bread recipes if they use regular yeast and you have instant you must cut the rise time they give in half! If you do the longer rises using "instant yeast" you could blow the yeast out and have flat bread! I only use instant bc I don't have the patience for hours and hours of rising lol
Hayden
This is the first time I’ve ever made ciabatta bread, and it was perfect! Followed the recipe exactly. I don’t think I’ll ever buy it from the store again. Thanks so much!
Aneliza
I made this today and I loved the outcome! I shared pics on my social media and everyone's asking for the recipe. I'll be sharing this one for sure!! Thanks for posting.
Vaishali
Aneliza, that's great to hear. So happy you loved it!