Ciabatta - the legendary bread from the shores of sunny and vibrant Italy. It is perfectly complemented by vegetables, olives, cheese and meat. The combination of fragrant crumb with large pores and a dense crispy crust made Italian ciabatta one of the most popular types of bread in the world.

What is ciabatta

Italian Ciabatta bread has a large pore crumb, crispy toasted crust and a delicious aroma of pastries. It is customary to use long slices of this roll for making crackers, bruschettas and croutons with different additives, and they are also served separately for dipping in sauce or gravy. Ciabatta is easy to recognize by a slightly flattened rectangular shape that resembles slippers.

Classic recipe in the oven

With proper preparation of ciabatta, the middle of the loaf will turn out to be seasoned, elastic and as porous as possible.

It is required:

  • wheat flour - 430 g + a little to sprinkle on the table;
  • heated water - 330 ml;
  • fine salt - 1 tsp;
  • some dry yeast - 1 g.

Description of the step-by-step process:

  1. Mix the flour with yeast and extra salt in a container.
  2. Sift the resulting mixture through a sieve for uniform mixing.
  3. Pour water into the dry composition.
  4. Knead the dough so that all the liquid is absorbed.
  5. We cover the container with the workpiece hermetically with cling film and hold in the room for 15 hours. We recommend setting the bread blank for the night. During this period, the mass will grow, and bubbles will appear on it.
  6. Thickly fill the table with flour. It is important not to feel sorry for her, because the dough is sticky, and it will be uncomfortable to work with it without dusting.
  7. We spread the dough on the table.It is not necessary to crush the mass, so that oxygen does not come out of it.
  8. First of all, we wrap the left side of the roll, and then the right, also the top and bottom to the center. The dough should resemble a bar.
  9. At this time, the substance is still soft and blurry, so we repeat folding the dough so that it better retains its shape.
  10. The resulting piece of dough is divided into 2 parts. We stretch each half to get 2 loaves of rectangular shape with dimensions of 10 x 20 cm.
  11. Pour flour on a waffle towel and put ciabatta on it, forming sides between the loaves.
  12. We cover the blanks with a second towel and leave for 1 hour, so that they become puffier.
  13. The oven with baking sheets, on which the bread will be baked, warms up to 220 degrees. It is better to set the convection mode if it is in your furnace model.
  14. To carefully move the bread onto a baking sheet, we bring the board to it. With a sharp movement, turn the ciabatta on it. Bread should not fall hard so that air does not escape, which subsequently provides porosity.
  15. We put the ciabatta on a heated baking sheet and immediately send it to the oven. To get steam, spray into the oven from the spray gun.
  16. The baking process lasts 35 minutes until a beautiful fried crust appears.
  17. After that we take out the baking sheet and let the bread cool for 20 minutes.

We serve a loaf cut into small slices or quarters so that a porous section is visible. We serve tomato sauce with paprika, sun-dried tomatoes and any flavored cheese.

Cooking in a bread machine

Ruddy long loaves with a crispy crust and a lush center can be baked with a bread machine without much hassle. In the composition to taste we add crushed garlic, Provencal spicy herbs, rosemary or thyme. In this case, the rolls have a unique smell of sunny Italy.

 

You will need a grocery set:

  • high-quality wheat flour - 250 g;
  • clean water at room temperature - 150 ml;
  • yeast (granules) - 4 g;
  • fine salt without impurities - 1 tsp;
  • dried Provencal herbs - 2 tsp;
  • chopped dried garlic - 1 tsp;
  • olive odorous oil - 1 tbsp. l

Cooking in a bread machine consists of several stages:

  1. Combine yeast powder, spices, flour, garlic and salt in a bread maker bowl.
  2. Add water to the dry ingredients and set the function of kneading dough.
  3. We leave the mode on for 2 hours, and after its completion, we again set the batch for 2 hours.It is prolonged kneading of dough that is the key to tasty and fluffy ciabatta.
  4. We take out the batter from the bread machine and form 2 small long loaves out of it. Leave to distance for 30 minutes.
  5. In a bread machine, grease the bowl with oil, put the loaf in the machine and set the mode to “Basic”.

A correctly baked loaf is rich in brown, and when tapped it makes a dull sound.

Cool the bread and break it. The quality of the ciabatta is checked by the presence of large appetizing holes in the crumb.

Italian bread in a slow cooker

Fragrant homemade ciabatta, the recipe of which we offer below, is cooked in a slow cooker, and it tastes no worse than bread from the oven or oven. Cooking in a slow cooker is convenient, but you need to know that it will not work to achieve a characteristic fried crust, so the bet is only on the air crumb.

Baking is prepared from the following products:

  • high-quality wheat flour - 250 g;
  • purified water - 225 ml;
  • briquetted yeast - 15 g;
  • extra salt - 3 g.

Italian bread is prepared in stages:

  1. Pour water into the container, introduce yeast with salt and stir until smooth.
  2. Pour flour in portions and start the dough. The mass will be sticky and rare.
  3. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave it warm to let the yeast work for 3 hours. During this period, the dough will grow in volume and become covered with bubbles.
  4. On the heavily floured kitchen surface, we dump the dough, bend the edges and form a bun.
  5. Sprinkle the surface with flour and transfer the loaf into the multicooker bowl.
  6. We leave the ciabatta to approach for 40 minutes, close the hatch and set the program “Baking” for 40 minutes.
  7. At the end, carefully shake out the bread and turn it over to the other side. Bake on the back for another 15 minutes.
  8. Put the loaf on the wire rack and cool.

Cut into beautiful thin slices and serve.

How to make cheese

Traditionally, the preparation of porous ciabatta does not use additional ingredients, but if you supplement the recipe with cheese, the taste and aroma of baking will benefit from this.

Would need:

  • high-grade wheat flour - 450 g;
  • drinking purified water - 300 ml;
  • dry yeast - 11 g;
  • aromatic olive oil - 3 tbsp. l .;
  • fine salt - 1 tsp;
  • hard salted cheese - 70 g;
  • garlic cloves - 3 pcs.;
  • dried herbs - 2 tsp.

Fragrant baking with cheese flavor is very easy to prepare with your own hands:

  1. Sift flour through a hair sieve into a deep bowl.
  2. Add salt, yeast, water and oil.
  3. Knead the dough. It should be sticky and slightly fluid.
  4. We leave the dough covered with a towel for 2 hours to make it distance.
  5. We spread it on a densely floured work surface and divide it into 2 parts.
  6. We form a rectangle from each half, then fold its edges one on top of the other, knead and fold again.
  7. We form 2 bread rolls and place them on a baking sheet, leave the yeast to work.
  8. On a fine grater, grate hard cheese and mix it with garlic and crushed greens, squeezed by the press.
  9. Generously sprinkle the surface of the bread with the resulting mass.
  10. We put the baking sheet in the oven warmed up to 200 degrees and bake the bread for 35 minutes.
  11. We take out the finished rolls from the oven and leave to cool on the wire rack.

Ready-made fragrant loaves with creamy cheese flavor and fresh greens are cut into pieces and served in the form of croutons or bruschettas with sun-dried tomatoes or olives.

DIY Ciabatta on a sourdough

The Mediterranean Ciabatta bread, behind a plain brown crust, hides the porous airy texture of the crumb, which is impossible not to fall in love with.

 

Composition Components:

  • sourdough with 100% humidity - 100 ml;
  • drinking water - 500 ml;
  • high-quality wheat flour - 700 g (including flour for sprinkling bread);
  • extra salt - 1.5 tsp;
  • odorous olive oil - 1 tbsp. l

To bake 3 rolls of 350 g each, you need to perform several steps:

  1. To prepare the dough, mix 200 ml of water with 100 ml of yeast and 300 g of flour. Cover and leave for the fermentation process in the room for 6 −8 hours.
  2. Opara will increase 3 times.
  3. Dissolve the billet in 300 ml of water, pour 450 g of flour, salt and oil.
  4. We start a wet liquid dough for about 15 minutes.Ciabatta dough is considered one of the wettest types.
  5. We leave the workpiece for fermentation in a greased bowl in a room.
  6. The dough costs 1 hour, after which folding takes place 4 - 5 times, then again 1 hour fermentation, and then again folding. Last fermentation lasts 1.5 hours.
  7. Sprinkle flour on the table and carefully, after the completion of the fermentation, pour the mass onto the flour, helping with your hands.
  8. We form a loaf 3.5 cm thick, which is sprinkled with flour on top.
  9. We divide the mass into 3 parts and form elongated blanks.
  10. All manipulations are performed carefully so as not to remove air from the inside.
  11. We cover the loaves with cotton towel and leave for 1.5 hours. Before parting, you can put a wide parchment, so that later you simply shift the dough onto a baking sheet with it.
  12. We heat the oven to 230 degrees.
  13. Transfer the workpieces to a baking sheet, greased with oil, and put the bread on the center of the oven. Bake ciabatta for 30 minutes until golden brown.
  14. The first 10 minutes we bake with steam, placing a bowl of water under the pan, and then another 20 minutes - without steam.

The prepared leavened bread is no different from the yeast in taste. It turns out to be pleasant, airy and very tasty. Sourdough loaves can be stored for a long time, do not dry and do not mold.

No yeast added

To bake bread without yeast, you can use rye sourdough. The rolls are fragrant, soft inside and crispy on the outside.

Essential grocery set for dough:

  • active rye starter - 10 g;
  • drinking water - 100 ml;
  • whole grain flour - 100 g.

For the test:

  • high-quality wheat flour - 400 g;
  • small salt - 10 g;
  • drinking water - 280 ml.

The process of making rye yeast-free ciabatta;

  1. Fill the prepared starter with drinking water. Stir so that it is completely dissolved in the liquid.
  2. Add the sifted flour and knead until smooth.
  3. We cover the dough with cling film and leave it to rise for 9 hours under room conditions. Opara should increase 2 - 3 times.
  4. After 9 hours, we introduce flour with water into the dough and leave it to warm for 15 minutes.
  5. The mass swells and the dough is formed on its own. At this stage, salt is introduced into the mass and the kneading process begins. The result will be a smooth, pleasant dough with a sparse texture.
  6. We collect a lump from the dough, dip it in a greased bowl and cover it with a plastic bag for 3 hours. The dough will become airy and porous.
  7. We put the ball on a table sprinkled with flour. We divide the mass in half and give the blanks a rounded shape.
  8. We move the mass on parchment paper, making a side between the loaves.
  9. Cover the top with a towel and leave for 1.5 hours.
  10. We heat the oven to 250 degrees and send the blanks to it.
  11. Bake ciabatta 25 minutes until a dense golden crust appears.

Cool the finished loaves and serve on the table in a cut form.

Italian style lean bread

At home, fragrant Italian bread can be baked with various delicious additives. As an addition, greens, onions, strips of bacon, cheese and olives are suitable.

The required list of ingredients:

  • high-quality wheat flour - 400 g;
  • filtered drinking water - 330 ml;
  • extra salt - a pinch;
  • smelling oil from olives - 1 tsp;
  • dry yeast - a pinch.

Italian pastries are prepared quickly and tasty:

  1. In warmed water, dissolve the yeast, add a little salt and flour.
  2. Pour the entire volume of the latter in portions and knead the liquid dough. It will stick to the hands, but knead the mass well.
  3. We close the bowl with the dough with a clean kitchen towel and leave it warm overnight. Mass will increase markedly in volume.
  4. We cover the surface with cling film, dampening the table with water. Sprinkle the film with flour to work with the dough was much more convenient.
  5. Pour the dough onto the film, while it does not spread. Sprinkle it with flour on top and form 2 loaves.
  6. We cover the baking sheet with parchment paper and grease the surface with oil.
  7. Transfer the loaves onto a baking sheet, cover with a towel and leave for 2 hours.
  8. In appearance, the workpieces will turn out to be flat - this is normal, since the rolls will rise during the cooking process.
  9. Bake ciabatta at 220 degrees 35 minutes.

So that the bread does not burn, you can put a bowl of heat-resistant glass filled with water at the bottom of the oven.

Let the aromatic bread cool, after which we cut the ciabatta into comfortable slices. Serve with sauces and vegetable pastes as a complement to sandwiches.

Whole wheat flour

The whole-grain bread with the Italian “character” baked in the oven turns out to be very tasty: a dense golden crust and a soft center with large pores.

 

Ingredients for cooking:

  • whole grain wheat flour - 230 g + 30 g for sprinkling;
  • dry yeast - 5 g;
  • warm purified water - 130 ml;
  • extra salt - a pinch.

Step-by-step process for baking ciabatta from whole grain flour:

  1. We mix the yeast with flour, after which we gradually add warm water and start the dough consistency a little denser than liquid sour cream.
  2. Cover the bowl with the dough with cling film and leave for 12 hours.
  3. Sprinkle flour on a work surface, then spread the dough on it. You can not knead it so that air does not leave.
  4. The edges of the dough are alternately wrapped towards the center to make a loaf of rectangular shape.
  5. Cover it with a towel and leave for another hour.
  6. We move the blanks onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, place it in the oven, heated to 180 degrees, for 35 minutes.
  7. Place a bowl of water under a baking sheet to make the bread soft and airy.

Serve bread sliced ​​into slices.

Appetizing Italian Ciabatta bread is fried on top and porous inside. Herb, cheese, fried onion, and olives will make the ciabatta even more aromatic and delicious.

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