These Homemade Ciabatta Rolls are everything you want out of good bread. Chewy, lightly crisped, flavorful crust. A tender, soft, moist interior. Beautiful holes that form nooks and crannies for warm butter or savory sauce to run into. And best of all, you can create them at home so you can make however many you want, in whatever shape you want, and enjoy them fresh out of the oven. These rolls are a perfect accompaniment to almost any meal, and can also be split and used for sandwiches or paninis. Whether used as an impressive start to a dinner party or a cozy pairing for a simple bowl of soup, these ciabatta rolls are sure to please. They take a bit of planning ahead, but I promise they’re worth the wait. Plus, it’s fun to have something to look forward to, knowing you have dough in the fridge ready to bake in the morning!
Making Bread at Home
Homemade bread can be intimidating. During the sourdough craze in 2020, many people jumped into the world of making bread from scratch. This is a good activity to do if you’ve got a lot of time on your hands, because there’s plenty of trial and error and a lot to learn! Starter, proofing, wild yeast, lames, feeding times, autolyse, air temperatures, atmospheric pressure, crumb, ear, oven spring, bannetons, gluten content…it’s enough to make your head spin!
Luckily, not all bread is so complicated. Breads that use commercial yeast, instead of sourdough starter, are a little more beginner friendly and consistent. There’s still plenty of variables to pay attention to when making homemade bread, but the good news is, most of the time, the end result is still delicious. Even if the crumb is a little dense this time, or the crust got a little too dark last time, it will still probably be delicious. Homemade bread just has a little special something that gives it an edge. Baking bread definitely has elements of science, but at its heart, is an art. Everytime I make bread, it turns out a little different, needs a little more or less flour, takes a little more or less time, etc. As you get comfortable making bread, you start to learn how to read your dough and give it what it needs.
Making Homemade Ciabatta Rolls
To make these rolls, we start with making a “sponge.” The sponge is a mix of yeast, flour, and water that is allowed to hydrate and ferment on its own before being combined into a full dough. This step develops lots of flavor for the final bread and allows the yeast a sort of “head start”. Also, this step is very easy. All you do is mix and wait! The sponge will eventually start to look like…a sponge. It will be full of holes or bubbles as the yeast begins to activate and process some of the flour. Then, the sponge is mixed with more flour and water, plus kosher salt, to form the full dough.
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Once the dough is fully assembled, we start the process of resting and stretching the dough. This step, though a little long, is very important. Resting the dough at room temperature allows the water to fully hydrate the flour, the gluten to develop, and the yeast to work its magic. Stretching and folding the dough helps the dough to build structure and strength. This will allow for a better texture in the final rolls. A well developed, strong dough can sustain the wonderful open crumb interior and chewy texture I love about ciabatta. How you perform the stretching and folding isn’t super important, but a general guideline is to gently lift each edge of the dough a few inches, then evenly fold all the edges onto the center each time, for an even and consistent strengthening. This stretching and folding process is done about 4 times, with a 30 minute rest in between each stretch and fold. After this, you will be left with a strong dough, ready for bulk fermentation.
During bulk fermentation, the dough is allowed to rest at room temperature until doubled in size. How long this step takes can vary widely based on how warm it is in your house and how active the yeast are. It’s okay if it doesn’t take the exact amount of time written in the recipe, or even the exact amount of time it took last time you made them! Conditions are always changing slightly. It can be hard to judge when the dough is doubled in size, but placing a sticky note on the outside of the bowl at the starting level of the dough helps to track its progress. This becomes even easier if you are using a straight-sided vessel and can watch for an even and exact doubling above the sticky note. Once the dough has doubled in size, it’s time to punch it down and cover with an airtight lid. Then, the dough is allowed to rest in the refrigerator at least 12 hours (I usually do this overnight). During this time, it will continue to ferment and slowly rise, developing flavor and an internal bubble structure.
Shaping the Rolls
Once the dough has rested in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours, the rolls can be shaped. To do this, I like to remove the dough from its container and place it on a clean work surface. Then I divide the dough ball in half, then each half in half, then half again. This is an easy way to create 8 evenly sized rolls. You can divide them into 10 or 12 rolls if you want them a bit smaller, but you’ll need to adjust the baking time. You can shape the rolls into smooth balls, then place them onto a baking sheet for the final rise. Almost Done!
Baking the Homemade Ciabatta Rolls
After the rolls have been shaped and allowed to rise one last time, it’s time to bake! Luckily, this step is short. After a quick 25 minutes in the oven, you’ll have beautiful, golden rolls of ciabatta. Let them cool slightly before slicing into them (if you can!) and enjoy. I hope you feel the same way I do: that all the effort was worth it! The flavor and texture of fresh-from-the-oven bread is hard to replicate. Now you can enjoy them however you’d like, as a sandwich, with soup, or all by themselves.
I hope you love these Homemade Ciabatta Rolls as much as I do! If you make this recipe, leave a comment and let me know what you thought or feel free to ask a question! I’d also love to see what you made! Tag me in your food pics @fortheperfectbite or use #fortheperfectbite on Instagram.
Homemade Ciabatta Rolls
Ingredients
Sponge
- ⅓ cup bread flour
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- ½ cup water
Ciabatta Dough
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 3 ½ cups bread flour
Instructions
Sponge
- In a large bowl, whisk together the ⅓ cup flour and 1 tsp active dry yeast. Stir ½ cup water into the flour and yeast. Cover the bowl with a dish towel or paper towels and allow to rest at room temperature for 4 hours or until the dough’s surface is has small bubbles appearing all over.
Ciabatta Dough
- In a large bowl, stir together the sponge with 1 ½ cups room temperature water. Mix in the kosher salt. To the sponge, water, and salt, add the flour and stir to combine into a wet dough. Cover with a dish towel and allow to rest for half an hour.
- Perform the stretch and folds:Lightly wet your fingers, then lift the top edge of the dough, stretching it up slightly, and fold it over onto the center. Repeat this with the bottom, left, and right edges of the dough, until you have folded all four edges onto each other. Cover the dough again with the dish towel. Allow the dough to rest at room temperature another 30 minutes, then repeat this stretch and fold process. Perform a set of stretch and folds every 30 minutes for two hours, resulting in a total of 4 stretch and fold sessions, including the first one.
- After the last stretch and fold, note where the dough rests in the bowl (this is easy to do with a sticky note on the outside of a clear bowl, if you have one). Use this as a reference to tell when the dough has doubled in size. Allow the dough to rest, covered, at room temperature, until doubled in size, about 4 hours, depending on the temperature of your room.
- Once doubled in size, "punch down" or deflate the dough with your hands (wet your fingers). Cover the dough with an airtight light or plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.
- Shape the rolls:Remove the dough from its container and place it on a clean work surface. Bring the dough into a ball shape using your hands or a bench scraper if you have one. Using a bench scraper or knife, divide the dough ball into halves. Then, divide each half in half, twice more, until you have eight equal pieces of dough.Form each individual dough piece into a ball and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, seam side down.
- Sprinkle the tops of the rolls lightly with flour, cover with a dish towel, and allow to proof at room temperature for 2 ½ hours.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Remove the dish towel and bake the rolls, uncovered, for 25 minutes, until evenly browned. Allow to cool slightly before serving.*Store any extras in an airtight containter to retain freshness.
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