Easy Sourdough Ciabatta Rolls

4.80 from 10 votes

Easy Sourdough Ciabatta Rolls

Crispy on the outside, soft and dotted with holes on the inside, these are easy sourdough ciabatta rolls. With no shaping required, sourdough ciabatta rolls couldn't be easier. We love them warm out of the oven, toasted for sandwiches or spread with a little bit of butter.

Prep Time30

Cook Time20

Fermentation Time22

Total Time22 50

Course: Bread, rolls, Side Dish

Cuisine: Italian, Sourdough

Servings: rolls

Author: Amy Coyne

Equipment

Ingredients

Levain

65 grams sourdough starter about 1/4 cup
65 grams all purpose flour about 1/2 cup
65 grams water about 1/4 cup

Sourdough Ciabatta Dough

180 grams levain heaping 1/2 cup
800 grams room temperature water about 3 1/3 cup
1000 grams bread flour about 7 1/4 cups
20 grams salt about 1 Tablespoon

Instructions

Levain (1:1:1 ratio)

Mix the levain together about 3-4 hours before mixing the dough. Take 65 grams of ripe starter and feed it with 65 grams flour and 65 grams water. Mix and cover with plastic wrap. I like to mix this in a liquid measuring cup to watch how much it grows. Once the levain has doubled in size, is rounded on top and just before it starts to go back down is the ideal time to make the ciabatta dough.
Note: Ripe, bubbly, active sourdough starter can be substituted for the levain in this recipe if desired.

Ciabatta Dough

Fermentolyse: Use a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients and mix together in a large bowl. Mix together the ripe levain, water and bread flour. Let sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Add Salt: Weigh 20 grams of salt in a small container. Add the salt to the dough mixture and use your hands to stretch the dough, incorporating the salt as you go. This is a very wet dough. It is helpful to get your hands wet before handling the dough.
Coil Folds: To develop the dough, perform a series of coil folds over the next 2 hours. To coil fold: Reach on both sides of the dough and pull up, forming a coil with the dough. Don't let the dough rip. Turn the container and repeat the process on a different side of the dough, performing 2-3 coil folds as the dough strengthens. Repeat this process every 15-30 minutes for a total of 4-6 times.
Bulk Fermentation: Cover the dough and let rise at warm room temperature (about 78 degrees) for about 2 hours. If your kitchen is cooler, let the dough rise a little bit longer.
Cold Bulk Fermentation: Place the ciabatta dough in the refrigerator overnight or for up to 24 hours before baking.
Shape Rolls: Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Dump the cold dough out onto the counter. Wet your hands and cut twelve pieces of dough using a bench scraper. Place each piece of dough on top of the parchment paper leaving some space between each roll.
Proof the Rolls: Sprinkle a little flour over the top of each roll and use your hand to spread the flour on top of the roll (this keeps a kitchen towel from sticking to the rolls). Place a kitchen towel over the top of the rolls and let them rise at warm room temperature (78 degrees F) until puffed up, about 2 hours. They won't double in size.
Bake: Preheat oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a baking sheet with about 1 cup of ice cubes on the bottom rack of the oven (don't let the ice touch the hot oven glass). Quickly slide the pan of rolls into the oven. Bake rolls for 20 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing and enjoying!

Notes

Levain: I like using a levain method with sourdough. If you want to skip this step and have a well cared for sourdough starter that is ripe, bubbly and active - you can substitute that for the weight of the levain in the recipe.

Bread Flour: This recipe calls for bread flour with a 12.5% protein content. This is needed to absorb all of the water in the recipe. If want to use all-purpose flour instead, add about 20 grams of vital wheat gluten to the all purpose flour to increase its protein content. OR decrease the water in the recipe by 50 grams.

Water Content: This is a high hydration recipe. If you are just starting out or learning to work with higher hydration doughs, decrease the water by 50-75 grams in this recipe to make it easier to work with.

Nutrition