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Saturday 24 October 2015

Italian Crunchy Ciabatta Bread


Bread and Butter is so simple, yet so delicious.

Making your own bread seems like a very labour intensive, time consuming task but when you see, smell and taste your very first homemade loaf, I assure you, that you will never look at any store bought bread in the same light again.

Did you know? Ciabatta means “slipper” in Italian. Ciabatta is the lightest, crispiest, crunchiest and tastiest bread I have ever made.


Ingredients (Makes 2 Loaves)

5C     White Bread Flour (825g)

2pkts  Instant Yeast (20g)

2t        Salt (10ml)

3C      Water (750ml)


1. Add all the above ingredients into a bowl.

2. Mix everything well with an Electric Mixer for 10 minutes.

Tip: This is a wet, sticky dough. Do not touch it with your hands.

3. Cover the dough with some plastic wrap.

4. Allow it to rest and rise for 1 hour.



5. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.


6. Flour a working surface generously.


7. Plonk the dough onto a floured surface.

8. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces with a knife.

9. Cover your fingers with flour and press then flatten each piece down with your hands to about 2cm high.



10. Fold the the bottom edges to the middle of the dough. 



11. Bring the top edges down onto the folded dough, like a sausage.


12. Allow it to rest for 15 minutes and then repeat the folding in the opposite direction.


13. Flour 2 Baking Sheet pans generously.

14. Transfer the folded doughs to the floured pans. 1 dough per pan.

15. Set the pans with the dough aside for ½ hour.

16. Do not cover them.

17. Sprinkle the top with some more flour.

18. Place them into the oven and bake it for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

What a beautiful Bread! In Italian is “ma che bel pane!”

Semplicemente delizioso… Simply delicious…

Lotsa Love

CarolC