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Sourdough Ciabatta

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Sourdough Ciabatta
Most ciabatta recipes start with a preferment called a poolish, a mixture of flour, water and yeast that is left to sit for a period of time – usually 12 to 24 hours – before the rest of the dough is put together. Starting a ciabatta this way will add a lot of flavor to the dough and it will also add a certain degree of suppleness to a dough, which you need to produce a holey-ciabatta bread. Another type of preferment is a sourdough starter and I have found that it also works very well as a starter for ciabatta – and as someone who has been keeping a sourdough starter alive in my kitchen for a long time, I always appreciate a new way to put it to use. And since I always have my sourdough starter on hand, I don’t need to wait the 12 to 24 hours that a poolish takes to develop before baking my bread.

I first found a recipe for sourdough ciabatta on the King Arthur Flour site (they also have a recipe for ciabatta without sourdough), but it took a few tweaks to get it to the consistency that I liked. My dough uses just water, bread flour, olive oil and salt, along with some active dry yeast to give it extra lift. Make sure that your sourdough starter has been fed and is active before you mix it into the dough. My sourdough starter is quite thick, but they vary in consistency, so you will need to gradually add in the last cup of flour to the bread dough before letting it rise, as some doughs will need more additional flour than others.

The original recipe suggests that the dough should have the consistency of drop-cookie batter, thick and slightly sticky but not dry or firm. If you add too much flour, your bread will be a bit denser. If you don’t add enough, the dough will be too slack and will be very difficult to handle. The trick is not to add too much flour to the dough and use a lot when you are handling it (as well as having a big bench scraper on hand) to ensure it doesn’t stick. To test my dough, I press it with my fingertip: it should feel sticky but should hold together, not stick to my finger. After my dough rises, I quickly deflate it and very gently shape it. I let it proof right on the baking sheet I am going to use so it is ready to go into the oven without needing to be moved again.

This ciabatta is not quite as holey as some ciabattas that I’ve had, but it has a chewy crumb and a nice crispy crust to it. It has a hint of sourdough flavor to it, and since it has a little more body than some more open-textured ciabattas, it slices and toasts very well. You can also put this bread to use as you would other ciabatta breads, making sandwiches and paninis or dipping in olive oil and serving alongside good cheese and prosciutto.

Sourdough Ciabatta

Sourdough Ciabatta
1 cup (8-oz) sourdough starter
2 cups water, warm (100-110F)
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp salt
5-6 cups (approx 22-26-oz) bread flour
additional bread flour, for dusting

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl, if you are working by hand), combine starter, warm water and active dry yeast. Stir or whisk to combine and let stand for 10 minutes. Add olive oil, salt and about 3 cups of flour.
Mix with a dough hook until dough becomes smooth. Gradually add in remaining flour until dough resembles the consistency of cookie dough (I usually use about 24 oz of flour with mine). With the mixer on low, knead dough with the dough hook for 6-8 minutes.
Turn dough into a well-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to double in size, about 2 1/2 hours. Dough can also be kept in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours if you do not want to bake it right away.

Preheat oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a well floured surface. Dough should be quite soft. Pat dough into a large rectangle about 16×12-inches or slightly larger. Cut it in half down the long side of the rectangle using a bench scraper or a knife.
You should end up with two pieces of dough that are roughly the same shape as a piece of paper, though they might be slightly larger.
Fold each piece of dough in thirds the same way: fold one short side down, then the other short side up to cover it, as you might fold a letter. Transfer to a baking sheet, stretching them slightly lengthwise as you lay them out. Loaves should be about 10 or 12 inches long. Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes, until loaves look slightly puffy.
Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown.
Cool for at least 30 minutes on a wire rack before serving.
Loaves will keep, well-wrapped, for 2-3 days.

Makes 2 loaves.

Notes: You can bake these loaves on a baking stone, but will need to use a peel or floured baking sheet to slide them onto the stone.

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2 Comments
  • kitchenvoyage
    May 12, 2011

    Even i dont like too much use dry yeast, perhaps becasue my mother always use the fresh one, i really i will try to make this ciabbata, much easier recipie and quick!

  • LongTimeBreadMaker
    January 4, 2013

    This recipe sounds fabo….but I have never made sourdough in all my years making bread. It would be nice if you had a link or made a note on how to make the starter. You only wrote what the ingredients are, but not the quantity of each. Could you post that so I can make this? Thanks much!

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