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Sep 30, 2016

Ciabatta Bread with Poolish

This Ciabatta Bread with Poolish is really easy to make, and makes amazing sandwiches and crostini. 

This Ciabatta Bread with Poolish is really easy to make, and makes amazing sandwiches and crostini.

The dough for this Ciabatta Bread with Poolish is really simple to put together. You can shape it into one large loaf or several small loaves or rolls.

I shaped my dough into four twelve inch long baguette style loaves, and used it for both crostini and submarine style sandwiches.

This Ciabatta Bread with Poolish is really easy to make, and makes amazing sandwiches and crostini.


This dough for this ciabatta begins with a poolish, a 100% hydration (equal parts flour and water by weight) mixture of flour, water, and a tiny bit of yeast, which is allowed to ferment and develop flavor for about 16 hours.

Just so you know, the final dough is super wet and sticky. You can't really shape it with any precision. The dough is pretty bouyant, and I found that twisting it just before baking helped it rise up rather than out.

This Ciabatta Bread with Poolish is really easy to make, and makes amazing sandwiches and crostini.


























After turning out the rising dough and roughly shaping it into a rectangle, I cut it into four strips and let them rise on a floured baker's couche.

Baker's couche you ask? It's a floured linen cloth used to help the dough maintain its shape. If you don't have one, you can use floured dish cloths or even parchment paper that has been creased between the dough strips. In fact, parchment makes moving the loaves to the oven super easy.

This Ciabatta Bread with Poolish is really easy to make, and makes amazing sandwiches and crostini.

Ciabatta Bread with Poolish

Ingredients


Poolish

  • 330 grams (2 1/2 cups) bread flour
  • 330 grams (1 1/2 cups) water at 70 degrees F
  • pinch of instant yeast

Final Dough

  • 613 grams (4 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons bread flour
  • 405 grams (1 3/4 cups) water at 102 degrees F
  • 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast
  • 18 grams (3 1/2 teaspoons) salt
  • All of the poolish

Instructions

  1. Mix the poolish ingredients the day before baking. Combine the flour, water, and yeast in a bowl and mix with dough whisk or wooden spoon until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and let ferment overnight for about 16 hours at room temperature.
  2. Using a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, mix all of the dough ingredients on low for about 8 minutes, scraping down the bowl after about 6 minutes.
  3. Place the dough in an oiled container or large bowl, cover, and let proof in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
  4. Stretch and fold the dough with wet hands, and let it rest for another 30 minutes. Perform three more "stretch-and-folds," every 30 minutes. Finish with a 30 minute rest.
  5. Generously flour your work surface and then invert your container and let the dough fall out. With wet hands, gently pull the dough into a rectangle. Cut the dough into four long pieces (or two, for larger loaves, or eight squares, for long rolls).
  6. Lift and place the dough pieces onto a well floured couche, floured tea towels, or oiled parchment paper. Pleat your couche or paper to help maintain the shape of the loaves.
  7. Cover the loaves with floured tea towels or another linen couche, and let proof for 30 to 60 minutes. Preheat the oven, equipped with a baking stone, to 450 to 480 degrees F. Place a broiler pan on the lower rack of the oven (for ice).
  8. Transfer each loaf to a parchment lined pizza peel, slide the loaves onto the heated stone, toss about a cup of ice onto the broiler pan, and immediately close the oven door.
  9. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
This Ciabatta Bread with Poolish is really easy to make, and makes amazing sandwiches and crostini.

Would you like to comment?

  1. Your ciabatta looks beautiful . Pinned for when I'm feeling grave enough to make my first ciabatta.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Sammie! It's a bit of a messy dough, but pretty forgiving.

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  2. I have always wanted to try and make ciabatta; it's the brad I most often buy. you actually make it sound easy.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much. If you can get used to really sticky dough, you'll do just fine!

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  3. Oh my! I love ciabatta and these look especially wonderful. I must visit you in the winter and sit in your kitchen talking about bread as we throw a couple of loaves in the bread "couche" - I just love that name:) But actually, I just want to eat all the bread. All of it.

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    Replies
    1. Do you know how much I would love that? =)

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  4. Hi Karen,
    Your ciabatta looks SO good! Lovely texture, am planning to try this out soon. :)
    How much yeast did you use for the poolish though? I would like to make this in larger batches so it would be good to know exactly how much yeast to weigh out for each batch.
    Thank you! :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Joy! I just measured a pinch, and it is 0.3 grams! :)

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    2. Ok, thanks so much! Can't wait to see how it turns out. :)

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  5. Hai, in the recipe, is really there is no olive oil?just water, salt, flour, yeast?thx

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  6. Hello, Karen: May I use "active dry yeast", instead of "instant yeast"?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, you can. I'm sure it will be just fine.

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  7. I have tried this recipe and it is absolutely amazing!!! Thank you for sharing Karen. I'm excited to experiment and try different techniques

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  8. Hello, I would like to try half this amount first, so would I use half the amount of yeast too? Thx!

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    Replies
    1. While I haven't tried it, that's what I would do.

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  9. Hi Karen
    I make Ciabatta every week using your recipe. It’s wonderful. I am French and i love good bread. This recipe is great. I use lava rocks for the steam instead of ice cubes.

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  10. does it have to be instant yeast?

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  11. Hi Karen, I am making your ciabatta bread for the very 1st time today. I love working with the high hydration breads. It reminds me of playing with “ mud pies” as a kid..,,, Hahahahaha…..Can’t wait to see the final results

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    Replies
    1. Once you get used to wet dough, it's fun, isn't it?

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  12. Hi Karen - I made these today and they turned out great! I made 1/2 the recipe which yielded 2 small loaves. One plain and one stuffed with Jalapeno / Cheddar! Wish I could post a pic :)
    Thank you for the great recipe -- I'll be making these again.

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    Replies
    1. That's so great!! Thanks for letting me know.

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  13. Has anyone tried to bake this bread in a challenger bread pan?

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