Rustic ciabatta — a crackly, flour-dusted crust and a wildly open, holey crumb that's made for soaking up olive oil. The secret is a wet dough and a gentle hand. I build a poolish the night before, then bake the same day once it's bubbly and alive. It's a slack 80% hydration dough, so you slap and fold rather than knead — and a little of my sourdough starter goes in for an extra layer of flavour.
Ingredients
Poolish (the night before)
- 200g Shipton Mill strong white flour
- 200g water
- 1g (a small pinch) dried active yeast
Final dough
- All of the poolish
- 300g Shipton Mill strong white flour
- 200g water (80% hydration overall)
- 30g active sourdough starter
- 10g fine salt
- 80g pitted olives, roughly chopped (optional)
To finish
- Fine Shipton Mill semolina & flour, for the couche and dusting
Method
- Make the poolish (night before): Whisk the 200g flour, 200g water and a small pinch of dried active yeast together until smooth. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight (8–12 hours), until it's bubbly, risen and domed, with a gently sour, beery smell.
- Mix the dough: Tip all the poolish into a bowl with the remaining 300g flour, 200g water, the 30g of sourdough starter and the salt. Mix to a wet, shaggy dough. At 80% hydration it'll feel alarmingly slack and sticky — that's exactly right, so resist the urge to add flour.
- Build strength with slap-and-folds: Tip the dough onto a clean, unfloured surface and slap and fold it — lift it, slap it down, fold it over itself, and repeat. After a few minutes it transforms from a sticky mess into a smooth, strong, elastic dough. Rest 10 minutes and give it one more short round. (Adding olives? Fold them through now.)
- Bulk ferment in a warm kitchen: Cover and leave somewhere warm until the dough is visibly risen, puffy and full of bubbles — alive and jiggly. A warm spot keeps this a same-day bake; bake it once it's properly bubbly.
- Gentle turn-out & divide: Generously dust your surface and a couche with semolina and flour. Tip the airy dough out without knocking the gas out of it, and use a bench scraper to divide it into two. Handle it as gently as you can — those bubbles are the whole point.
- Shape & rest on the couche: Gently coax each piece into a rough rectangular slipper shape and lay it on the floured couche, well coated in semolina and flour to stop it sticking. Let them rest in the warm while the oven heats.
- Transfer to parchment: When they're bubbly and relaxed, gently transfer each ciabatta onto a sheet of parchment paper, flipping so the floured side faces up. Move them as little and as gently as possible to keep the open structure.
- Bake (same as my baguettes): I bake these between two pizza stones — one for the ciabatta to sit on and a second on the shelf above to reflect heat back down. Preheat both as hot as the oven goes (250–260°C) for 45 minutes. Slide the ciabatta in on their parchment, add steam, and bake 20–25 minutes until deep golden, crisp and hollow-sounding, and the internal temperature hits ~98°C.
- Cool: Cool on a wire rack. Tear one open warm to see that big, irregular, glossy crumb — ciabatta is best eaten the day it's baked.
That extra layer of flavour comes from real sourdough culture. Our lab-verified San Francisco sourdough starter is live, and ready to bake in 2 hours.
Shop the Starter →Step-by-step
Frequently asked questions
Why is ciabatta so wet?
The very high hydration (80%+) is what creates the signature open, irregular crumb structure with large holes. A drier dough gives a tighter crumb. The wetness feels wrong the first time but is correct — trust the recipe.
What flour is best for ciabatta?
Italian 00 flour is traditional and gives the tender crumb. Strong white bread flour is a good UK substitute — the crumb will be slightly less soft but still excellent. Avoid plain flour, the protein is too low.
Why is my ciabatta not getting big holes?
Usually because the dough was over-handled when shaping. Once the dough is bulk-fermented, work with it very gently. The bubbles inside are what become the crumb holes — pressing them out gives a dense loaf.
Do I need a stand mixer for ciabatta?
No. Traditional ciabatta is made in a bowl by hand. Stretch-and-folds develop the gluten just as effectively as machine kneading, and are easier on wet doughs.
