How to Make Ciabatta Bread
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Easy Ciabatta Bread Recipe
This Ciabatta Bread recipe ("slipper bread") is bread in one of it's most simple forms. Some traditional recipes for Ciabatta can take days to make but this simplified recipe will put delicious crusty Ciabatta bread on your table within hours. No kneading, no bread machine needed and very little mixing required.
If you want to know how to make Ciabatta bread, this recipe really is very easy!
Enjoy Fresh Ciabatta Bread Today
Ciabatta Bread Recipe
This very basic bread recipe is designed to put delicious Ciabatta bread on your table with a minimum of fuss and bother. Traditionally Ciabatta is made using a sourdough method involving sponge and dough stages but this recipe eliminates the sponge stage. In fact there is very little mixing at all and absolutely no kneading is required. This mix will produce 2 large loaves but you can break it into smaller portions to make other shapes or even Ciabatta rolls.
Standard metric cup and spoon measurements are used in this recipe, ie 250ml cup, 5ml teaspoon
Ingredients
3 Cups Bread Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Sachet Activated Dry Yeast (7 grams)
2 Teaspoons Olive Oil (Extra Virgin is best)
2 - 2 1/2 Cups Warm Water

1. Add dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and give a good dry mix to blend ingredients. I prefer to do all the mixing by hand with a wooden spoon but you can use a mixer if you choose.
2. Add the oil and water. Hold some of the water in reserve and add later if needed. You are aiming for a very soft sticky dough. Mix for about 10 minutes if mixing by hand, 5 minutes is plenty if using a mixer. View the videos below to get some idea of the consistancy needed.
3. Now for the proving stage. I prefer to place the dough in a large plastic container with a lid (a shallow 20 litre storage container is ideal). Any container that will hold the dough is fine, you can cover with cling wrap instead of a lid if needed. Just make sure the dough has room to double in size. Dust the container very well with lots of flour. Divide the dough into 2 portions. Simply pour/scrape the dough, placing half in each side of your container. Dust the dough and shape into a rectangular form. This will help with folding later.
4. Cover the dough and let it stand (prove) for about an hour, or until it doubles in size.
5. Now uncover and dust the dough pieces. Make sure you have some flour on your hands as well for the next step. Fold the top and bottom of the dough piece into the middle. Now fold each side into the middle. Gently flatten the dough and shape into rectangular form again. Do the same for both dough pieces. Now cover, and let stand until the dough doubles in size again, about 1 hour.
6. Repeat the folding again for each dough piece, remember to use plenty of flour. Flatten, cover and let it prove one more time, until again it doubles in size. Now would be a good time to pre-heat your oven to about 240 C, or 450 F.
7. Grease or flour (you can do both if you like) a large baking tray (or use a stone if you have one). Now lift each dough piece and stretch to the length of the baking tray. This produces the traditional slipper form. Place the dough on the tray.
8. Bake in your hot oven for around 30 minutes or until golden brown and crusty. Test by knocking on the crust, if it sounds hollow, your bread is baked. During baking, you can spray the dough with water every 5-10 minutes to make it even more crusty.
9. When baked, cool on a wire rack.
Now enjoy your fresh baked crusty Ciabatta bread!
Try Baking Ciabatta on a Baking Stone
Old Stone Oven 4467 14-Inch by 16-Inch Baking Stone
Amazon Price: $29.99 (as of 02/14/2012)![]()
A baking stone for home oven use reminiscent of the stone baking ovens of earlier times. Thicker than other stones available, it has a porosity and heat retention that is perfect for a good crust. The Old Stone Oven Pizza Stone duplicates crispy pizzeria quality pizza - crust and all- in a standard kitchen oven. The Stone can also be used to bake bread, rolls and biscuits giving them a very special texture and quality.
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Why White Bread Flour?
Traditionally Ciabatta is a white bread. Bread flour is higher in protein than other flours. The protein forms the open cell structure of good ciabatta bread.
You could use other forms of flour and still make bread using this recipe but the texture of the bread will be more dense.
Here Are the Ingredients You Will Need
A Simple Shortcut Method To Baking Fresh Bread Every Day
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
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There's nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread to fill a kitchen with warmth, eager appetites, and endless praise for the baker who took on such a time-consuming task. Now, you can fill your kitchen with the irresistible aromas of a French bakery every day with just five minutes of active preparation time, and Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day will show you how.
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Watch the Pro's Making Ciabatta Bread
There's More Than One Way to Skin a Ciabatta
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- It also has a breakfast menu featuring items such as the Mediterranean egg white sandwich with roasted tomatoes, spinach, cheese and basil pesto on ciabatta bread, or souffles. Another feature of Panera Bread is catering service.
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- Bonnie Verdugo, right, and her 12-year-old daughters Paige, left, and Dani stack loaves of ciabatta bread for distribution through Ruby's Pantry on Thursday at First United Methodist Church in Duluth. Anyone can pick up a share of the surplus food for ...
- Gambit's 2012 Winter Restaurant Guide: Cafe
- ANTOINE'S ANNEX 513 Royal St., 525-8045; www.antoines.com The cochon sandwich features Cajun-spiced pulled pork and Swiss cheese on ciabatta bread. The caprese sandwich combines fresh mozzarella and basil, Roma tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette.

Looks Good Enough to Eat
More of My Bread Recipes
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maplesyrup
Feb 11, 2012 @ 12:18 am | delete
- ciabatta bread is the best! I love it with roasted red pepper, eggplant and provolone cheese!
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nadjaiskeniskie
Nov 15, 2011 @ 2:17 pm | delete
- Gonna try this on the weekend. Looks easy enough. Just need me some white flour.
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christopherlee Jul 9, 2011 @ 9:26 pm | delete
- HEllo Steven, nice len, and congrats on becoming a giant squid.
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Auntiekatkat
Dec 13, 2010 @ 5:29 am | delete
- I have lensrolled this lens on to my bread and butter pudding recipe and also my Soda bread recipes.
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jgelien
Nov 21, 2010 @ 2:11 am | delete
- What is better than the smell of freshly baked bread? This looks so delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
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LaraineRose Feb 13, 2010 @ 4:00 am | delete
- I've always made my family bread, but never tried this. This looks too good to resist! You make it sound so easy. Mine probably won't look as good as your loaves but ...
Thanks for visiting my Olympic lens and leaving a comment. I'll be back to see more of yours. 5*s and fav. I'm looking forward to reading more.
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Auntiekatkat
Feb 5, 2010 @ 6:59 am | delete
- Steve i had a lens in the making on Ciabatta bread, but well this this says it all. Its a lot simpler to give you a five and favourite it and scrap mine. I have bookmarked your lens as well and will keep my eye for new lens.
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NaturalMommys
Feb 4, 2010 @ 11:18 pm | delete
- Thank you I just made my very first loaf today and YUM!!
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lasertek
Feb 2, 2010 @ 8:02 pm | delete
- This lens brings back all the happy memories I had with my grandmother. We used to make Ciabatta breads when I was much younger. 5*
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StevenCousley
Feb 3, 2010 @ 4:10 am | delete
- Thank you for the lovely comment
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My online experience begins way back in the early 1990's. I now run several blog sites in my spare time as well as here on here on squidoo and work as... more »
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