Simple Sourdough Ciabatta Bread

Made with four ingredients, this sourdough ciabatta has a crisp crust, a beautiful honeycomb crumb, and a lovely lightness and chew. The process is truly simple, and the ciabatta is so tasty, perfect for sandwiches of all kinds, for dunking into soup, or transforming into bruschetta.

Originating from the Lake Como region of northern Italy, ciabatta means “slipper” in Italian. Traditional ciabatta is characterized by its slipper shape and extremely porous, light texture, created with a biga (a preferment), a high-hydration dough, and a long, slow rise.

A biga is made with a small amount of yeast, flour, and water. In this recipe, I’ve replaced the biga with a sourdough starter, but kept the remaining elements the same: the high-hydration dough is made with four ingredients and requires a long, slow rise, which produces a crisp crust, a beautiful honeycomb crumb, and a lovely lightness and chew. This ciabatta is perfect for sandwiches. 

Best of all: the process is truly simple. The dough does not require an autolyse, a preheated Dutch oven, or a baking stone. If you have a sheet pan, you’re good to go. What’s more, there’s no shaping, scoring, or balling up dough. After the bulk fermentation, you turn the dough out onto a floured work surface, pat it into a rectangle, and divide it into 8 pieces. You then transfer those pieces, irregularly shaped and all, to a sheet pan, and bake them one hour later.

Can I tell you the most exciting part? This dough makes an excellent baguette! Unscored and flour-dusted, it has a crumb and flavor better than any other I’ve attempted previously. See photos below.

PS: If sourdough isn’t your thing, please try this yeast-leavened ciabatta bread recipe.

How to Make Sourdough Ciabatta, Step by Step

Gather your ingredients: bread flour, water, salt, and a sourdough starter. I am a proponent of buying a starter (see recipe box for sources), but if you are up for it, you can build a starter from scratch in just about 1 week.

For this recipe, you’ll need: 100 grams sourdough starter, 360 grams water, 450 grams flour, and 12 grams salt. It’s 80% hydration.

Mix together the water, sourdough starter, and salt.

Add the flour and mix to form a sticky dough ball.

Cover the bowl and let rest for 30 minutes. Then perform a set of stretches and folds. See the video above or in the recipe box for guidance. This is what the dough will look like after one set of stretches and folds.

This is what the dough will look like after 4 sets of stretches and folds.

Transfer dough to a straight-sided vessel (this one is 8 cups, but anything similarly sized will do) for the bulk fermentation (the first rise):

Mark the height of the dough on the vessel, cover the vessel, and let the dough rise until it increases in volume by roughly 75%.

When the dough has increased by 75% (roughly), place a lid on the vessel, and transfer it to the fridge for 12-24 hours.

When ready to bake, remove the vessel from the fridge.

Dust the top of the dough liberally with flour. Dust a work surface liberally with flour, too.

Turn the dough out onto the prepared work surface.

Pat the dough into a rectangle.

Cut the rectangle into 8 roughly equal portions.

Transfer the portions to a parchment-lined sheet pan. Let rest for 1 hour. Then transfer to a 475ºF oven for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 450ºF and bake for 10 minutes more.

Transfer the rolls immediately to a cooling rack, and let cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting.

How pretty is that crumb?

Ciabatta sandwich: This recipe is inspired by Gabrielle Hamilton’s Blood, Bones, and Butter. In short, the success of the sandwich relies on a delicate balance: “the perfection of three fats together — butter, olive oil, and the white fat from prosciutto or lardo.” To make it, spread good bread with “cool waxy butter,” top with prosciutto (more than you think), and arugula. Drizzle it all with good olive oil.

Sourdough Ciabatta “Baguettes” 🥖🥖🥖

To make baguettes, follow the same process, but instead of dividing the rectangle of dough into 8 portions, divide it into two. I find an extra-large sheet pan to be necessary to bake both baguettes at the same time. If you don’t have an extra-large sheet pan, I would bake one baguette at a time, and orient it at a diagonal angle from one corner to another.

Bake the baguettes at the same temperature and for the same amount of time as the rolls.

Not bad for the effort, right?

These ciabatta “baguettes” would be great vessels for giant sandwiches.

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