This no knead chiabatta bread, with its crunchy crust and soft and airy interior, is super tasty and so easy to make.
This bread is wonderful for sandwiches, croutons, and simply as a side for dipping in sauces, stews, and soups. It also makes amazing garlic bread.
You stir the flour, water, salt, and yeast together in a bowl before you go to bed and then shape and bake the loaves in the morning. It's pretty incredible.
The most difficult part of making this bread is getting used to working with super wet dough. The trick is to use a wet bench knife and wet hands... and just go with it. Have faith. It works.
The overnight rise is a wonderful way of developing flavor and the gluten in the dough.
The technique is pretty effortless.
Ciabatta Ingredients:
All you need is bread flour, instant yeast, salt, and water.
Process:
First, mix together all of the ingredients in a medium bowl. Cover the ingredients and let the dough rise for about 12 to 18 hours. It should be super bubbly.
After that, gently scrape the dough out onto your floured work surface with a dough scraper.
Next, gently shape the dough into a square, cover it with oiled plastic wrap, and let it rise for about an hour or so.
Finally, cut the dough in half and stretch each piece onto a piece of parchment and then transfer the loaves to a baking stone in your oven to bake until golden.
Equipment You May Need:
To create steam during the first part of baking these loaves, place them on a hot baking stone and cover them with a foil roasting pan that is about 13 by 16 inches. These pans are inexpensive, and you can use them over and over again for baking bread.
If you don't have a baking stone, a commercial grade half sheet pan (to withstand the higher heat) is also great for baking this bread.
More Ciabatta Bread Recipes You May Also Enjoy:
Mixed Grains and Seeds Ciabatta
Ciabatta with Cold Fermented Dough
More Yeast Breads:
This week, the Sunday Funday group is sharing recipes for yeasted breads!
No Knead Ciabatta
Ingredients
- 400 grams (3 cups) bread flour
- 8 grams (1 1/4 teaspoons) table salt
- 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 1/2 cup cool water
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients in a medium bowl for about a minute. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 12 to 18 hours, until more than doubled and bubbly on the dough's surface.
- Flour your work surface and scrape the dough out onto it.
- With wet hands and a wet dough scraper, shape the dough into a 14 inch square.
- Using the wet dough scraper and your wet hands, fold the dough over itself, and then over itself again, so you have a 7 inch square.
- Cover the dough with oiled plastic wrap, and let it rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until almost doubled.
- Preheat the oven, with a baking stone on the center rack, to 475 degrees F.
- When the dough is ready, slice it in half with a bench knife and place each piece, stretched out, on a parchment lined peel. Dust with flour.
- Transfer the dough pieces to the stone, and cover with a large disposable foil pan or roasting pan cover.
- Bake, covered, for 20 minutes. Uncover, and bake for an additional 10 to 20 minutes, until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 200 to 210 degrees F.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
81Fat (grams)
1 gSat. Fat (grams)
0 gCarbs (grams)
16 gFiber (grams)
1 gNet carbs
15 gSugar (grams)
1 gProtein (grams)
3 gCholesterol (grams)
1 mgRecipe adapted from My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method by Jim Lahey, published in 2009. There's also a new version that has just been published with five new recipes.
Jim Lahey also has published two additional cookbooks, My Pizza, and The Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook. Needless to say, I recommend them all!
love the big crumb Karen and thank you for posting it !
ReplyDeleteYou bet Zella!
DeleteCan't wait to try this, hope I can shape it w/ the high hydration.
ReplyDeleteEven if you aren't happy with the shaping, just bake. I'm pretty sure it will be successful!
DeleteHi Karen! This bread looks so delicious. And I love that I don't have to knead it - especially because I get pain in my arms sometimes. I usually avoid making homemade bread for that reason, but this is a great recipe for me to try! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteThat sticky dough is very tricky indeed Karen!:):) We also put a small metallic dish in the bottom of the oven with boiling hot water to release extra steam during baking.
ReplyDeleteGreat work -as always!
Hi Karen! I have been enjoying reading all your recipes. I just started to bake bread. Love the no knead bread cooked in a dutch oven recipe. Being in quarantine, it is hard to find unbleached or bread flour. I'm stuck with AP flour. How would I modify this recipe (maybe extra water) by using AP flour. Thanks in advance for your advice.
ReplyDeleteI think you could follow it as is without adjusting the water. If you can find vital wheat gluten (usually in the Bob's Red Mill section), you could add a little of that (the amount should be on the package).
DeleteThat looks just perfect! Yum!
ReplyDeleteKaren, wow. Perfectly baked ciabatta and that too without kneading the dough. Lovely soft crumb with those big holes.
ReplyDeleteLook at all those air holes. This bread looks absolutely perfect Karen.
ReplyDeleteLove the texture of the bread. Perfectly done.
ReplyDeleteThe stone, do you know if there's like a flavour difference when you use a stone for the baking instead of a regular pan?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not a flavor difference. The stone is just great for holding heat and crisping the bottom. Not a big deal.
DeleteThis bread is perfectly baked!
ReplyDelete