How to make ciabatta bread at home

 

This is my recipe for a simple yet foolproof ciabatta bread loaf, one of my favourite loaves! The recipe is straight from my book Savour (now available as an ebook from Kobo and from Barnes & Noble, and also from Amazon for Kindle), where there are many more bread recipes, and more. In the meantime enjoy this one!

  

Ciabatta 

Ingredients

300ml warm water

2 teaspoons active yeast granules

14⁄teaspoon sugar

300g high-grade flour, plus extra for dusting

pinch of salt 

Makes 1 loaf

Place the warm water in a large bowl, add the yeast and sugar and set aside for 5 minutes. When the yeast starts to bubble, add the flour and salt and work into a dough for about 5 minutes using your fingers. This dough will be too sticky to roll on the bench or table so knead it in the bowl (although it feels more like mixing). Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for about 2 hours. Line a large baking tray with baking paper and turn out the risen dough onto the tray bottom-side up. The dough will be sticky so you will need to scrape it from the sides of the bowl; it is also likely to be runny – prop up the outside edges of the baking paper with a couple of small ovenproof ramekins to avoid ending up with an extremely large flat loaf (the ramekins can be filled with water to create a steam oven effect - image 1)). Dust the top of the loaf with the extra flour. Bake in a preheated 180 ̊C (350 ̊F) oven for 25–30 minutes.

 Remove the bread from the oven, wrap in a tea towel, then place in a plastic bag and seal. Leave the bread in the bag for 30 minutes so that the steam will cook it further and make it soft and deliciously chewy. If you prefer a ciabatta with a crunchy crust, eat it while it’s still warm – yum!

 

 

Tips and variations

Although some recipes add 1–2 tablespoons of olive oil to the dough, I prefer an oil-free version so I can drizzle olive oil on it when it is freshly cut and ready to eat. I also like to dip ciabatta slices in a little oil flavoured with crushed cumin seeds and salt or basil leaves.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Learn to make bread, pizza, pastries, savoury tarts and pies, frittata.... and more: Savour is now an ebook!

Exciting news! Savour, my second book with over 100 recipes (mostly family and Italian recipes) is now available as an ebook:

 from Kobo, worldwide. Click here to find out more!

Or for Amazon for Kindle

Also From Barnes & Noble 

 

Sublime Onion Tartlets

This recipe is from my book Savour, it is really easy and the result is guaranteed to make your dinner guests go WOW! All you need is ordinary brown onions (one per person for a main or just half per person for a starter). Peel the onions and boil whole for about 10 minutes (or until half cooked but not too soft) then cut in half horizontally. For every two onions melt about 50g of salted butter in a pan and add 2 to 4 tsp of brown sugar (it depends on your taste). Put the onions, cut side down, into the pan and them place them into individual ramekins (still cut side down. Add the remaining butter. Cover each onion with a disk of flaky puff pastry (your own or bought, I used Paneton) and press down well until you get a 'bowler hat' shape around your onion. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden. Reverse over a serving plate (or individual plates, they will pop out easily). Serve hot, they are deliciously buttery and fragrant, topped at the table with Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena Extravecchio, or with grated Parmigiano, or freshly ground black pepper… or just by themselves! Sorry about the 'orange' photo below, but the time we had dinner it was dark!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Rye Bread

This recipe comes from my book Savour, and I have just seen on the Amazon website that they have 4 'used' copies from $2.42 (plus postage), good to know as now it is almost impossible to find in New Zealand. 

Rye Bread

Ingredients:
300 ml warm water
2 tsp active yeast granules
1/2 tsp brown sugar
300 g rye flour
200 g high grade flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp molasses
1 tsp caraway seeds

Place the warm water in a large bowl, add the yeast and brown sugar then set aside for 5 minutes. When the yeast starts to bubble, add both kinds of flour, salt, molasses and caraway seeds. Work into a dough for about 10 minutes using your fingers; it will be quite sticky so knead it in the bowl. Shape into a ball, sprinkle it with rye flour and leave to rise in the bowl, covered with a damp tea towel, for about 2 hours. Punch the dough and knead it for 1 minute. Form into an oval shape (this time I made it into a long loaf instead), sprinkle with more rye flour and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Leave the dough to rise for 1 1/2 hours. Bake in a preheated 230°C oven for approximately 30 minutes or until the loaf makes a hollow sound when tapped on the bottom.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Win a copy of Savour: Irresistible pizzas, pies, tarts and bread

I am off for a few days holiday in Taupo, so probably I will not be able to post anything. But I do like to offer another book, this one is about savoury food, lots of baking, over 100 recipes, vegetarian and vegan, and a few surprises like how to make your own mozzarella :-)

All you have to do is follow me here, or on Only Recipes (or put your avatar among the followers/supporters on both blogs for a double entry). If you are already a follower you are in!

By next Friday you will know who is the winner!

Good luck!

Alessandra

Update:

Dear all, I have the house full of children so I did my hat thing again and the winner is...Arfi of HomeMadeS

Congratulation Arfi, and thank you all!