You’lll be surprised at how easy this crusty loaf of ciabatta bread is to prepare and bake! Hands-on time is no more than 7 or 8 minutes, and the only part that might take a little practice is shaping it so the air bubbles don’t deflate. I use two bowl or board scrapers to shape the loaf, but you could try using stiff spatulas.
Slice the bread horizontally to make fantastic sandwiches and panini. You can even prepare the dough ahead of time and let it rise overnight in the refrigerator.
PrintEasy Homemade Ciabatta Bread
Homemade ciabatta bread is surprisingly easy and takes very little hands-on time. The no-knead bread makes fantastic sandwiches. Split it in half horizontally for panini-style sandwiches.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Bread, Yeast Bread, Italian Food
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
- 1 1/2 cups water (12 ounces)
- 3 cups flour (13 1/2 ounces)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine the water, yeast, flour, and salt. Stir to make a soft dough. Sprinkle the top of the dough with 1 tablespoon of flour.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen tea towel and place in a warm, draft free place for about 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle liberally with flour.
- Scrape the dough out onto the parchment paper and use a board scraper to shape the dough into an oblong loaf. Sprinkle the top of the dough with more flour and cover with a tea towel until the oven has preheated.
- Heat the oven to 425 F. Place a small pan of hot water in the bottom of the oven to create steam. Alternatively, when baking the bread, spritz the bottom of the oven with water a few times early in the baking.
- Bake the ciabatta for about 25 minutes. If you have a good instant-read thermometer, the internal temperature should be around 200 F to 210 F.
