Are you fascinating by the smell of a homemade freshly baked bread? If yes, I have the recipe for the easiest homemade, no-knead, ciabatta bread.
What would you say if your home was filled with the smell of freshly baked bread within an hour? With minimal preparation from last night and no baking skills, you’ll have the easiest and the most delicious bread on a Saturday morning.
I am talking about ciabatta bread. Ciabatta bread comes from Italy, it is crisp from the outside and airy from inside. Ideal for sandwiches while at the same time can perfectly pair the main dish.
What bread means for you? For me, bread is strongly related to the word grandmother. No, I’m not gonna tell you a story from my childhood. Nor I will write a recipe whose roots are lost somewhere in 1900.
The truth is that I don’t remember my grandmother making bread. But why homemade bread is related to me with my grandmother? That’s because I have linked it to humility but also to something that can not be missed from the table.
So, in this recipe, we will take one of the most humble ingredients, the flour, and we will turn it into something that is not missing from the table, the bread. Without much effort, I promise you.
3 +1 tips before baking ciabatta bread
- Before you begin, read carefully the recipe and give attention to the needed time of each step. Keep in mind that you can “break” the recipe in two. You can start the preparation from the day before, so the next morning you can easily have fresh baked bread in just one hour.
- I want you to be very kind with our dough. Throughout the turns, we try to create blisters, do not break them with clumsy movements or with the knife. When it is necessary to cut the dough, cut it with the needed attention.
- When folding the dough do not forget to dip your fingers in the water. Otherwise, the dough will stick to your fingers and you will “deflate” it in your attempt to peel away.
+ 1. Always leave the bread to cool on a cooling rack. This will make it even crisper.
The easiest homemade ciabatta bread
Ingredients
- 560 gr strong flour
- 290 gr all-puprpose flour
- 2 tsp dry yeast
- 650 ml water
- 84 ml olive oil
- 16 gr salt
- extra flour for shaping the dough
Instructions
- In a large bowl (it is good the bowl has a lid, you can also use a large pot) add the strong flour and the all-purpose flour. Then add the dry yeast. Stir.
- In another bowl add the liquids, meaning the water and olive oil. Add the salt.
- Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon. Stir until there is no dry flour. At this point, you may feel that you have made a mistake and put more moisture, but not all, you are doing pretty fine. Our mixture should be relatively watery.
- Put on the lid and set aside for 30 minutes.
- In a small bowl add some water and dip your fingers. Stretch the dough from each side (that is, from the four sides in total) and fold. Leave aside for another 30 minutes. This process will take place four times, so we will need 2 hours. In this way we trap air inside our dough and create the famous holes of ciapatta bread. Do not forget to dip your fingers in water before each stretch, otherwise the dough will stick to your fingers.
- After we have completed all four foldings, set aside for two hours, with the bowl covered. Our dough should double, so be sure to use a large bowl. If you plan to bake the bread the other day in the morning then here is the moment to add the dough in the refrigerator (I usually do so).
- While waiting prepare the bread forms. You do not need to have any fancy utensil, you can use a basket, or a rectangular cake pan. All you need is clean towels and some flour. In your forms, put clean towels and dust them well with some flour.
- After two hours (or after removing the dough from the refrigerator) on a well floured surface, invert the pot. Let it fall by itself, so that you do not blow the blisters you created earlier.
- By using a very sharp knife or even better with a dough cutter, carefully cut the dough into 2 or 3 pieces and put the dough into the forms you prepared earlier.
- Place a pot or cast-iron surface in the oven, positioned on the middle rack, and preheat your oven up to 250 degrees.
- Wait for about 20 minutes in order the dough to be shaped and your surface or the pot in the oven to get warm enough.
- Carefully apply a piece of parchment paper to the pot or to the cast-iron surface and then add the dough. On the bottom of the oven add a small pot and add some water on it. The water will evaporate during baking making ciabatta crust crustier.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden-brown.
- Allow to cool on a cooilng rack for an hour.
So, what do we have here? An easy, no-knead recipe for the most crunchy from the outside and at the same time airy ciabatta bread of your life.
A recipe that allows you to start the time-consuming but necessary process one day earlier so that in the next morning you can easily have a fresh homemade ciabatta bread on your table.
Would love to hear that you have made my ciabatta bread recipe. Don’t hesitate to contact me either on Instagram, or Facebook or Twitter!
hi! by wheat flour, do you mean whole wheat flour?
Hi Mat and thank you very much for your comment. The recipe supposed to say strong flour and not wheat. I can’t understand how this happened. I am so sorry 😐
Thank you very much again for your comment!
Thanks for the quick reply! I look forward to making this recipe:)
Thank you 🙏