No-Knead Ciabatta

Add some prosciutto and burrata for a delicious panino.
Enjoy with some homemade soup for a satisfying lunch or dinner.
Or skip the soup, open a bottle of good red wine, add a chunk of cheese, slice up the bread and call it a day.
No-Knead Ciabatta
from Jim Lahey’s “My Bread”
printable recipe here
3 cups bread flour
1 1/4 t. table salt
1/4 t. instant or other active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups cool (55 to 65 degrees F.) water (I needed more – just add enough until you get a “loose” consistency but not so wet that it can’t be shaped)
additional flour for dusting
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt and yeast. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours.
When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Dust the surface of the dough with flour and, with lightly floured hands, nudge the dough into roughly a 14 inch square. Fold the dough in half, and then crosswise in half again, so you have a square, roughly 7 inches on each side.
Place the dough in a warm, draft-free spot, cover it with a tea towel, and let rise for 1 hour. The dough is ready when it is almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, soak the clay baker for 10 minutes.
Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. with a rack in the center. Place the baker on the pizza stone, and put the stone and baker in the center of the rack.
Using pot holders, carefully remove the hot pot and stone from the oven, taking care not to set them on a cold surface. Using a dough cutter or sharp serrated knife, cut the dough in half. Shape each piece into a long flat loaf. Generously dust each loaf with flour (you will bake 1 loaf at a time). Pick up 1 loaf with both hands, quickly but gently stretch it to almost the length of the clay pot (roughly 10 inches) and place it on the stone. Using pot holders, cover the loaf with the inverted pot, and bake for 20 minutes.
Uncover the loaf and place the pot on another rack in the oven, to keep it hot for the second loaf. Continue to bake the first loaf for 10 to 20 minutes, checking the color of the loaf once or twice. It is done when the crust is a light chestnut color. Using pot holders, carefully remove the stone from the oven. Transfer the ciabatta to a rack to cool thoroughly, and bake the second ciabatta the same way.
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Perfect! Your ciabattas are really beautiful.
Cheers,
Rosa
Love this recipe. I actually use the same technique to make my weekly "regular" bread, just shaped into a round loaf rather than the slipper shape. Either way, it's fabulously good.
I've been making ciabatta for many years but I haven't covered it! I have a cloche, an Italian baker, and another stone baker with lid like yours. Once we get home in the spring I'll have to experiment with your method. I love baking bread — it makes me so happy. I'll have to check your recipe amounts compared to mine. Your holes look great!
ho anche io quello stampo, non mi resta che provare la ricetta !
Your ciabatta looks like it's been made by a professional baker! I've been making homemade bread with my sourdough starter, using the technique in Ken Forkish's book Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast. But I have yet to try ciabatta ~ I wonder if I could adapt this recipe to use starter instead of commercial yeast…thanks for the inspiration.
A magnificent result, brava Linda. A long slow rise is the secret to any good tasting bread, I do the same with my pizza dough.
Breadmaking still intimidates me. But I love ciabatta and this no-knead recipe is very tempting. Your instructions are very clear, and I have the time. WIll do!
Mmmmmmmm…there is nothing as good as fresh baked bread! I could eat the entire loaf!
Your Ciabatta looks wonderful, Linda! I wonder if I could use an overturned oval Le Creuset instead but perhaps the clay has something to do with the beautiful results. Wish I had some with our soup tonight 🙂