Monday, March 15, 2010

one-minute ciabatta bread

How could I possibly pass up a one-minute ciabatta bread hack?

Before leaving for work:
  • 1/4 teaspoon active yeast stirred into
  • two cups warm water
  • 600 grams (about 4 cups) all-purpose flour
  • 1 mounded teaspoon Morton kosher salt
Came together with perhaps 15 seconds of hand mixing. Poured into a very large greased bowl and let it rise all day (temperature mostly in the low sixties, probably).

Baked it in the evening for 25 minutes at 425 degrees on a baking stone, sprinkled top and bottom with a Tuscan herb mix. I also used a steam tray. The large greased bowl made pouring this wet dough onto a prepped pizza peel easy, so I achieved a pretty good shape and easily snapped it onto the stone.

Oven spring and crust formation were nice. It ended up nearly semicircular in profile.


It does take more than a minute, but taking all prep and cleanup into account it's probably no more than five, and that's quite excellent for this very palatable result. Really tender but chewy crumb, nice flavor, great with butter.


It probably could have baked for another five minutes. I'll try it with a higher protein flour next time, which I think would make the texture closer to other ciabattas (ciabatti?) I've had. As-is, though, it is quite worthy and would be an admirable sandwich bread.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm going to have to try this--a bread that doesn't require kneading.

Den Mother said...

Hi! We tried—and loved—this bread recipe too! A friend of ours posted it on Facebook. One of our comrades, a monster by the name of Steve, posted a photo essay of making it on our blog. We'd love it if you want to stop by and say hi!

http://www.societedesmonstres.com/2010/10/fresh-ciabatta-by-steve/