Homemade Ciabatta Rolls
Homemade Ciabatta Rolls are soft and tender on the inside, chewy and golden on the outside, and perfectly complement any meal.
Ingredients
Sponge
- ⅓ cup bread flour
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- ½ cup water
Ciabatta Dough
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 3 ½ cups bread flour
Instructions
Sponge
- In a large bowl, whisk together the ⅓ cup flour and 1 tsp active dry yeast. Stir ½ cup water into the flour and yeast. Cover the bowl with a dish towel or paper towels and allow to rest at room temperature for 4 hours or until the dough’s surface is has small bubbles appearing all over.
Ciabatta Dough
- In a large bowl, stir together the sponge with 1 ½ cups room temperature water. Mix in the kosher salt. To the sponge, water, and salt, add the flour and stir to combine into a wet dough. Cover with a dish towel and allow to rest for half an hour.
- Perform the stretch and folds:Lightly wet your fingers, then lift the top edge of the dough, stretching it up slightly, and fold it over onto the center. Repeat this with the bottom, left, and right edges of the dough, until you have folded all four edges onto each other. Cover the dough again with the dish towel. Allow the dough to rest at room temperature another 30 minutes, then repeat this stretch and fold process. Perform a set of stretch and folds every 30 minutes for two hours, resulting in a total of 4 stretch and fold sessions, including the first one.
- After the last stretch and fold, note where the dough rests in the bowl (this is easy to do with a sticky note on the outside of a clear bowl, if you have one). Use this as a reference to tell when the dough has doubled in size. Allow the dough to rest, covered, at room temperature, until doubled in size, about 4 hours, depending on the temperature of your room.
- Once doubled in size, "punch down" or deflate the dough with your hands (wet your fingers). Cover the dough with an airtight light or plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.
- Shape the rolls:Remove the dough from its container and place it on a clean work surface. Bring the dough into a ball shape using your hands or a bench scraper if you have one. Using a bench scraper or knife, divide the dough ball into halves. Then, divide each half in half, twice more, until you have eight equal pieces of dough.Form each individual dough piece into a ball and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, seam side down.
- Sprinkle the tops of the rolls lightly with flour, cover with a dish towel, and allow to proof at room temperature for 2 ½ hours.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Remove the dish towel and bake the rolls, uncovered, for 25 minutes, until evenly browned. Allow to cool slightly before serving.*Store any extras in an airtight containter to retain freshness.