Italian Bread Recipes Ciabatta

Authentic Italian Ciabatta Bread recipe meaning slipper bread, originally from the Veneto, made with an overnight starter and cooked just like a pizza on a preheated pizza stone.

Invented by Franceso Favaron in 1982, this is the perfect Italian bread for sandwiches, Bruschetta, panzanella or just to dip in your favorite olive oil as an antipasto.

How

Very easy to make at home, it’s egg free and dairy free, but you will need to execute some patience and plan in advance for the starter or Biga.

Chef John's No Knead Ciabatta

An Italian starter similar to a sourdough starter but thicker, made from a little bit of flour, water and yeast and allowed an initial fermentation. It gives the bread a unique and wonderful flavor.

Don’t be intimated! This is a sticky wet dough overall, hence those nice coveted holes that make ciabatta different and special. Just feel confident and roll with it, don’t be temped to add extra flour, all will be well and turn out great.

If you are looking for a last minute quick crusty bread to make for dinner, please try our Rustic Italian Bread Recipe instead, also baked on a pizza stone.

Easy Ciabatta Bread Recipe (airy, Chewy, And Delicious!)

Store your homemade ciabatta in a breadbox or plastic storage bag at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. Alternatively you can slice it and freeze it in freezer proof bags up to 3 months. Place the slices directly in the toaster when ready to eat, no need to thaw them out.

An authentic Italian recipe for ciabatta bread or slipper bread, originally from the Veneto made with an overnight starter and cooked just like pizza on a preheated pizza stone

#1 To get a crusty loaf make sure to use a pizza stone and also create some steam in the oven by placing a dish filled with water on the bottom as the oven heats up. Add more water if needed before baking the bread. Allow the loaves to cool inside the oven after baking with the oven door slightly open.

No Knead Ciabatta Bread Recipe

#2 If you don't have a stand mixer just use a wooden spoon to mix the dough together, it will appear to be more difficult this way as we are dealing with a wet dough. This delicious Italian Ciabatta Bread is made the Traditional Italian way, with a biga, it makes the perfect sandwich bread or why not serve it on the side with your favourite soup or stew? Homemade bread is not as hard as you think!

How many people are now taking up baking their own bread now? To tell the truth I have always been a lover of making bread, in fact I even started a new blog All Things Bread before all this merda happened.

Whenever I go to the grocery store or bakery for bread, this is always the first bread I ask for. Since the Italian is the main bread eater in the family, this is also his favourite.

Homemade Ciabatta Garlic Bread

This bread does not have a high crumb, but it does have lots of wonderful holes and a lovely crust. Ciabatta which means slipper in English, pretty much explains it perfectly. Low and flat!

Form each part into an oblong shape, place on parchment paper that is lightly sprinkled with flour, then lightly sprinkle the dough with flour.

Place a baking sheet (upside down) or a baking stone in the oven before pre-heating the oven. Don’t forget to place an empty oven proof cake pan on the bottom of the oven also.

Small Batch Mini Ciabatta » The Practical Kitchen

Before putting the dough in the oven add either a cup of boiling water or some ice cubes (8-10) in the cake pan, then quickly & carefully place the parchment paper and bread on the cookie sheet or baking stone and bake for approximately 20 minutes.

Homemade

You may think that a Poolish and a Biga are the same, but the main difference is that a Poolish is a liquid dough and a Biga is a solid dough.

A Biga is a type of rise used in Italian baking. Many popular Italian breads, including a ciabatta and Pandoro, are made using a Biga.

How To Make No Knead Ciabatta Bread Like An Italianvincenzo's Plate

The addition of a Biga is said to add more flavour to the finished product and is also used in breads that need a light, open texture with holes.

Adding water to an oven creates a moistened environment, this allows the bread to rise easier by delaying the setting of the crust. It makes bread deliciously light and crusty. The best way is to put an oven safe pan in the oven while re-heating then add a cup of boiling water or some ice cubes to the pan, place the bread in the oven and bake.

There are quite a few reasons why the dough doesn’t rise, the main ones being, your yeast has expired or dead, the room where your bread is rising is too cold, so more time is needed and your liquid is too hot which killed the yeast.

Ciabatta Garlic Bread

The best temperature for bread to rise in, is 80F / 26C. The best temperature to for the biga to rise in is 71F / 22C, if you home is warmer than that, then the best place to put the biga is in the fridge.

When you remove it from the fridge, be sure to let it come to room temperature, about 45-60 minutes before continuing with the recipe.

Ciabatta

There are three ways to tell when the bread is done, the first is by looking at the colour of the bread, which is usually a light to dark golden brown (depending on the bread), the second is by knocking on the bottom of the bread, if there is a hollow sound it usually means the bread is done and the third is by the internal temperature which should be 190F (88C) or 200F (93C) for Brioche type breads.

Homemade Ciabatta Bread {step By Step}

In Italy we like to use slices for a simple sandwich, or even open faced sandwiches, topped with Italian cold cuts, such as prosciutto or salami. It also makes a great dipping bread or even drizzled with olive oil.

Be sure to serve this bread with your favourite Soup , Stew or even Pasta dish. You need something to soak up the leftover sauce in your dish!

It should be stored in an airtight bag, it will keep for up to three days at room temperature. The baked cooled bread can also be frozen, place in freezer safe bags or container.

Quick No Knead Ciabatta Bread

So if you have always wanted to try making bread, then why not give this Traditional Italian Ciabatta a try and let me know how it goes. Enjoy!

This delicious Italian Ciabatta Bread is made with a biga, the perfect sandwhich bread or why not serve it on the side with your favourite soup or stew?

Calories: 600 kcal | Carbohydrates: 123 g | Protein: 20 g | Fat: 2 g | Saturated Fat: 1 g | Sodium: 1171 mg | Potassium: 253 mg | Fiber: 7 g | Sugar: 1 g | Calcium: 23 mg | Iron: 7 mgCiabatta bread is a rustic-looking, white loaf that's a staple of Italian bakery. It's got a thin, crisp crust and an incredibly soft interior, perfect for dipping in sauces and makingpanini.

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How To Make Foolproof Ciabatta Bread

This type of bread is light and easy to digest because it's made with a higher percentage of water and a long leavening time. Therefore, you'll see lots of bubblyholes running through it, which is its main characteristic.

Ciabatta bread can be used in many different ways. You can cut it in half to make a sandwich or eat it sliced and drizzled with oil and balsamic vinegar. It's also perfect for doing the scarpetta in hearty dishes likepeperonata, caponataor thesepolpette with tomato sauce. And for the ultimate breakfast treat, try it sliced, buttered, and spread with jam.

Translated into English, “ciabatta” literally means “slipper”. This is due to its distinctive long, flat-ish shape that is thought to vaguely resemble this type of footwear, so much so that it’s often called Italian Slipper Bread in English-speaking countries.

Gluten Free Italian Ciabatta

This famous Italian Ciabatta bread comes from the Veneto region, where it was invented in 1982. In those days, bakers were worried about the French baguettes flooding the market, threatening to monopolise the booming sandwich business in Italy.

The popularity of this new bread grew very quickly in Italy, with many regions producing their own variations on Cavallari's original recipe, and it wasn't long before the Ciabatta became a big hit overseas. Marks and Spencer introduced it to British households in 1985, and two years later, this Italian bread was exported to the States.

Step 1: In a medium size bowl add water and dry yeast. Wait 10 minutes until the yeast is fully dissolved and has a “creamy’ texture.

Traditional Italian Ciabatta Bread Recipe

Mix in the flour. You should get a very loose and sticky dough. It should have consistency thick enough not to come off from the spoon as, say, sour cream, but wet enough so that it’s impossible to knead it by hand.

Italian

Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and let the dough rest at a room temperature for 3-4 hrs or overnight. I don’t recommend leaving biga for more than 24 hrs as the yeast will start