This is the Italian answer to a French baguette. In fact, ciabattas were made in the Veneto region of Italy as a reaction to the popularity of the sleek French loaf. A little over thirty years old, the ciabatta, or “slipper” in Italian, has a crunchy outside with a light, chewy inside with enough holes to rival Swiss cheese.
Many recipes require stages of kneading the dough and letting it rest. Part of what drives that is how wet the dough is at first. Eventually, the loaf becomes a floured boule you roll out onto a floured surface. The resting period can be anywhere from a few hours to overnight. The longer the better, obviously. But if you don’t have that much time, you can make this recipe in the better half of an afternoon.
And, don’t skip the liberal coating of olive oil. It makes a huge difference in the dough. Some recipes call for vegetable oil. But, please. This is Italian bread. Of course, you use olive oil.
Some areas of Italy will coat the loaf with sea salt and others, like in Rome, coat it with a dusting of thyme, oregano, or marjoram. Some even stuff the breads with salamis and cheeses. But to me, that depletes the joy of this simple bread. I think it is best enjoyed still warm from the oven and dipped into a little olive oil with a pinch of sea salt and red pepper flakes.
Here’s the recipe:
1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 c. hot-to-the-touch water (about 100 to 110 degrees)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
16 ounces unbleached bread flour
2/3 c. ounces room-temperature water
Olive oil (for coating the bowls)
Cornmeal (for sprinkling on the baking stone)
Sprinkle the yeast on top of the hot water to let it dissolve and set aside. Then, sprinkle the salt on top of the flour and stir to incorporate. Make a well in the center of the flour/salt mixture and add the cool water little by little. Lightly mix together. After the yeast has dissolved into the warm water, add it to the mixture and stir to fully incorporate. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
Here comes the folding and the resting:
After 30 minutes, sprinkle flour on your work surface, then scrape the dough out onto it. Tap your hands in a little flour, then gently flatten the dough into a rectangle, with the short side facing you. Fold the top edge down to just below the center, then flip the bottom side up above the center. Do the same with each side, then turn dough over and dust off the flour. Place the folded dough in a bowl slicked with olive oil and let it sit for another 30 minutes covered with plastic wrap.
After 30 minutes are up, fold the dough again, using the same method as above. Place the dough in a second oiled bowl, covered with plastic, and let it ferment until it has doubled in volume, 1 to 2 hours.
After the dough has doubled in volume, sprinkle a little more flour onto your workspace. Use the same folding method as before. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let it rise for another 30 minutes.
As the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 475 degrees, and put a baking stone on the middle rack, and an empty pan (for water) on the bottom rack. Sprinkle more flour on the counter and use the same folding method again. Separate the dough into two pieces and form logs.
Sprinkle a mixture of cornmeal and flour on the baking stone. Scoot the ciabatta pieces off the sheet tray and onto the stone. Pour water into the pan on the bottom rack in order to make steam; you can also spritz the loaves with water. There will be a lot of sizzling, so be careful not to get your face too close.
Bake to a deep brown in approximately 30 minutes. Let the bread cool before cutting into it.
