How to Make Bread -
Ciabatta Bread Recipe

I hope you will like this ciabatta bread recipe. It has a very crispy and aromatic crust, with large holes inside (for which it is well known).

There are many variations of ciabatta bread. Ciabatta is an Italian word for a slipper, which relates to flat shape of the bread.

Ingredients:

• 720 g/1.6 lb white bread flour
  
• 25 g/0.8 oz fresh yeast
  
• 1 ½ cups plain yogurt
  
• 1 ½ cups water
  
• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 2 teaspoons salt

Instructions:

Put yogurt, water and olive oil in a cooking pan and heat the mixture until it becomes medium warm.

Put the yeast in a large bowl and pour the medium warm mixture into it. Stir well and add flour and salt.

Mix the dough with a blender (with hooks) for about 8 - 10 minutes. The dough should be soft.

Cover it with a plastic wrap and leave it to rise for one hour.

Cover the baking pan with a lightly floured baking paper. Turn the dough onto it and sprinkle with flour.

First shape the dough into 20x30 cm/7.8x12 inch cake, then cut long wise in half. Each half cut into 3 ciabattas (approximately 7x15 cm/2.75x6 inch in size). Cover with a cloth and leave to rise for ½ an hour.

Preheat the oven to 200° C/400° F. Bake ciabattas for 20-25 minutes.

Leave on a wire rack to cool.

Italian Origin

In Italian “ciabatta” means “slipper” and to some it is known as the slipper bread. It can be short wide long and suits sandwiches very well.

Croutons can be made with ciabatta bread and it has the capacity to absorb liquids.

Panini, the grilled Italian sandwich is often made with this type of bread. It is very tasty when it is fresh. If wrapped with plastic it becomes soggy.

The hydration factor is the most important in the making of ciabatta, as the different baking techniques change the color and texture of the bread.

The basic other ingredients remain the same - only the hydration changes its characteristics. The longer fermentation and higher hydration give larger holes in the bread.

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