From scratch · Yeast breads
Ciabatta
Very wet dough, folded instead of kneaded, baked into two flat, open-holed loaves.
✋ 28 min hands-on
⏱ 5 hr 7 min start to finish
🍽 Two loaves, about 14 oz each, or 8 sandwich rolls.
ContainsWheat.
Ingredients
- 500 g bread flour
- 4 g active dry yeast
- 10 g table salt
- 1¾ cup water, about 90°F
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Time
Hands-on time is when you’re busy; the rest is rising, simmering, chilling or cooling, when you can do something else.
| Step | Hands-on | Waiting |
|---|---|---|
| Mix and rest | 10 min | 30 min |
| Stretch and fold 4 times, then rise | 8 min | 2 hr 30 min |
| Shape the loaves | 10 min | 45 min |
| Bake at 450°F | – | 24 min |
| Cool | – | 30 min |
| In all | 28 min | 4 hr 39 min |
How long it keeps
- Counter: best the day it’s baked; in a paper bag, about 2 days.
- Freezer: cool completely, wrap in plastic and then foil or a freezer bag, up to 3 months (University of Missouri). Slice first so you can take out what you need; a whole loaf thaws in its wrapping on the counter in about 3 hours (Cornell).
Nutrition
Estimated from the ingredients’ USDA FoodData Central numbers.
Steps
You’ll need: large bowl or square container, baking sheet, parchment paper, bench scraper (helpful).
- Mix the flour, yeast, salt, water and oil until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest 30 minutes.
- With a wet hand, stretch and fold the dough over itself 4 times, turning the bowl. Repeat 3 more times, every 30 minutes. Then let it rise undisturbed until doubled and bubbly, about 1 more hour.
- Tip it onto a well-floured counter. With floured hands, gently pat it into a rectangle and cut it in two. Fold each piece in thirds like a letter and set them seam side down on floured parchment.
- Cover and let them rise 45 minutes while the oven heats to 450°F with a baking sheet inside.
- Flip each loaf over onto the hot sheet (parchment and all) so the floured side is up. Bake 22 to 25 minutes, until deep golden. Cool at least 30 minutes.
⚖️ ScalingDon’t add flour to make it easier to handle; flour your hands and the counter instead.
🛡 SafetyDon’t taste raw dough or batter, and wash your hands and the counter after handling flour: raw flour can carry germs that only baking kills (FDA).
Sources
- Food Storage Guide (FN579), NDSU Extension, reviewed January 2023. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- Tips for Storing Bread, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Herkimer County, 2020. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- How to Freeze Home-Prepared Foods (GH1505), University of Missouri Extension. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- Handling Flour Safely: What You Need to Know, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed 2026-10-25.