Sourdough Ciabatta Rolls
This versatile sourdough ciabatta, is an easy roll for beginners and master bread bakers alike. It has a soft, bubbly and golden crust, with a perfectly chewy center, complimenting a sandwich, panini, or just toasted and buttered up.
Ingredients
- 100 grams of active sourdough starter- This is a starter that has been fed within the last 4-24 hours depending on the temperature and maturity of your starter It should have at least doubled in size and is nice and bubbly.
- 260 grams of filter water - we use a Berkey Water Filter
- 16 grams of a good quality salt- we use this Himalayan salt or this Celtic Sea Salt
- 360 grams of bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Feed your starter about 8-12 hours before you want to bake your bread. I like to feed my starter before going to bed.
- In the morning, weigh room temperature filtered water into a bowl. Then add you're active starter. An active starter that is ready to use will pass a "float test" meaning your active starter will float on the water. I use a whisk to mix it all together.
- Weigh and add the flour and salt to the water and starter mixture. At this point I like to mix with my hands until it is fully incorporated. This is not kneading, this is just a quick mixing to make sure the flour and water has come together. Next, put a damp tea towel over the bowl and let autolyze (let the flour absorb the liquid) for 30 minutes.
- After the 30 minute autolyze stage, remove tea towel and perform the first set of stretch and folds. Place tea towel back over bowl and wait another 30 minutes. Perform a second set of stretch and folds. Then, wait 15 minutes. Then, perform another set of stretch and folds, perform three more sets of stretch and folds with 15 minutes in-between for a total of six stretch and folds to complete your series.
- Next, transfer your dough into a straight-sided vessel with a lid and leave on the counter to let the dough rise to a little more than double. This could take anywhere from 2-8 hours. Again, depends a lot on the maturity of your starter and the temperature in your space. Some bakers will mark their vessel where the dough started so that they know when the dough has risen to. You want it to rise a little more than half or 75% (roughly).
- When it has risen to 75% (roughly) transfer your vessel to the fridge for 12-24 hours.
- When you are ready to bake your sourdough ciabatta rolls, preheat your oven to 475 ℉. Take the vessel out of the fridge and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. With clean hands create a rectangle with the dough. Down the center long ways, cut your dough in half using a bench scraper. Now, you have two long sections of dough. Take one section at a time and cut out 3-4 (depending on how big you want your rolls) rectangles, and transfer to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Take the next long section and, again, cut out 3-4 rectangles and add to the cookie sheet. You should now have 6-8 rectangles. Place a damp tea towel over the cookie sheet, and let rise a second time while your oven is preheating. I usually let them rise anywhere from 30 mins. -1 hr. depending on the temperature of the kitchen.
- After the second rise and after the oven is preheated, place the cookie sheet in the oven. For the perfect crust on the ciabatta, humidity is required. I use a spray bottle for this- I open my oven just a bit and spray about 30 sprays of water and then close. Some bakers like to add another cookie sheet to the bottom rack that is filled with water. Bake for 10 mins. Then, turn the cookie sheet and bake another 10 minutes, watching more closely for that perfect golden brown color.