Classic Ciabatta

Ciabatta is my daughter’s favorite bread. I like it for the same reasons she does: the attractive taste and chewy crumb. Additionally, as the family baker, I enjoy ciabatta because it’s a forgiving bread to make. As is the case with many Italian dishes, ciabatta has a memorable flavor produced through a recipe that’s both structured and extemporaneous. It’s an ideal bread to make during the holidays, because the recipe makeup is flexible. If something comes up and you don’t have time to complete the baking as planned, you can delay the starter or dough by placing it in the refrigerator for a day. Or, less drastically, you can increase or decrease the total preparation time by speeding up or slowing down the timing of the stretch-and-fold process.

Ciabatta is sometimes baked as one large, roughly shaped loaf, but it’s more often found as either a long, wide loaf with a gentle dome, or as somewhat square rolls typically used for sandwiches at cafés and bakeries. Italian bakers developed ciabatta in the 1980s to compete with the ubiquitous French baguette as a sandwich bread. Against all