Ciabatta with sun-dried tomatoes

If you are already preparing this Italian bread at home according to the classic recipe, then you will definitely like today's version! The large-pored crumb with huge holes and crispy crust is an integral part of the ciabatta. And we will also add sun-dried tomatoes - you get an unusually aromatic, mouth-watering and very tasty homemade bread.

Basically, making a ciabatta with sun-dried tomatoes is not much different from the classic recipe for this simple Italian bread. But believe me, sun-dried tomatoes (their homemade recipe can be found here) add indescribable flavors and aromatic notes to finished baked goods.

Ciabatta bread is prepared very simply: quickly knead the sticky and runny dough, leave it to ferment for 8-12 hours, then shape and steam it in a very hot oven. As you can see from the indicated amount of ingredients, the ratio of liquid to flour is not typical for a simple yeast bread. But it is precisely due to such a large volume of water that such large holes, characteristic of ciabatta, are obtained in the finished baked goods.

Ingredients

• Wheat flour (430 grams)
• Water (330 milliliters)
• Sun-dried50 grams)
• Salt (1 teaspoon)
• Fast acting yeast (1 gram)

Directions

1. To cook ciabatta bread in the oven, take wheat flour, water, sun-dried tomatoes, salt and fast-acting yeast (those that do not require preliminary preparation and are added directly to the flour). Sun-dried tomatoes are quite expensive, so I always cook them myself.
2. Sift wheat flour into a suitable dish. Choose a larger bowl or saucepan, as the dough will grow very much - 3-4 times.
3. Add salt and dry active (fast-acting) yeast to the flour. Mix everything thoroughly so that the salt and yeast are evenly distributed over the flour. If you ask if it is possible to make ciabatta with dry or compressed yeast, I will not tell you, as I have never tried it. But in theory it should work.
4. Now pour drinking water into the flour mixture. The temperature of the water is not important in this case, but remember that the warmer it is, the faster the dough will fit. I always make dough late in the evening and bake bread in the morning. And even the warmer it is in the kitchen, the less time it takes to ferment the dough. In general, I recommend using room temperature water.
5. It is not necessary to knead the dough for ciabatta bread for a long time. Just a couple of minutes to moisten the flour. Uniformity is also not needed. We tighten the bowl with the dough with cling film (we make several punctures in it with a toothpick so that the dough can breathe) or cover it with a towel and leave it alone at room temperature for 8-12 hours. If you want to bake this bread in the morning, make the dough in the evening.
6. At that time, the temperature in my apartment was quite high, so by 7 in the morning the dough managed not only to rise well, but began to fall off. It's time to move on to the next step.
7. Sprinkle the table generously with wheat flour (here you will need an additional portion, which is not included in the ingredients) - about a third of a glass. If you don't, the dough will firmly stick to the work surface - it is liquid and unrealistically sticky. We dump it out of the bowl, being careful not to damage the air bubbles that permeate the entire dough.
8. Now, picking up with our hands from below, we stretch the dough into a rather thin square layer. Put the sun-dried tomatoes in an even layer, which, if desired, can be cut into smaller pieces, but I like large slices.
9. Now we fold the dough three times: first from the far edge towards ourselves, then vice versa - from the near center. That is, it turns out 3 layers of dough.
10. Then we fold the workpiece from the side edges to the center - you should get such a square or a small rectangle. As a result, 9 layers of dough are formed inside the dough.
11. The next step in making ciabatta bread is to divide the dough piece into 2 equal parts using a knife or scraper. Cut quickly and gently as the dough is very tender.
12. We take a suitable towel and dust it with flour very generously. If you don't, then the dough will stick. We shift both pieces of dough onto the prepared surface, simultaneously pulling them in length. We make a cradle for our future loaves - we prop up with rolls of towels at both ends and in the middle we also make a separation. Cover the ciabatta with a towel and let it rest for an hour in a warm place.
13. It is clear that the dough is not particularly elastic and the workpieces will not rise much, but they will noticeably round up and will not creep. Preheat the oven about 20 minutes before the end of the rise of the dough.
14. Carefully transfer the future bread to a baking sheet covered with baking paper.
15. We will bake ciabatta bread on a steam bath, that is, we will put a wide bowl with hot water on the bottom of the oven. When baked at high temperatures, this water will boil and evaporate to create the necessary moisture. It is due to this that the bread will grow. We bake the blanks in a steam bath for about 30-35 minutes at 220 degrees.
16. Do you see how our bread grew and became round? Just lovely.
17. Cool the finished homemade cakes on the wire rack. We give the ciabatta a rest for about 20 minutes and you can enjoy delicious Italian bread.
18. Try this simple and easy bread recipe that will surprise you with a truly excellent result. Every chef can make homemade ciabatta bread!