At 85% hydration this stops being dough in the usual sense and becomes something you pour. The technique is almost entirely about restraint: five coil folds to build strength you cannot feel with your hands, then no shaping at all. Ciabatta is not shaped, it is cut — the dough is tipped onto a floured couche and divided with a bench scraper in three strokes.
Strength without kneading
Water at this level means the gluten network forms slowly and weakly unless it is organised. Five coil folds, 30 minutes apart, each one lifting the dough from underneath and folding it over itself. By the fifth set the dough goes from a sticky puddle to something that holds a soft dome — that transition is the entire point of the folds, and it happens between sets three and four.
| Fold | Minutes | Dough behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Runs off the hand, barely holds |
| 2 | 30 | Holds a ribbon for 2 seconds |
| 3 | 60 | Coils without tearing |
| 4 | 90 | Holds a dome for 10 minutes |
| 5 | 120 | Elastic, bubbles under the surface |
| Bulk end | 270 | 70% rise, domed, jiggly |
Cutting instead of shaping
Flour a couche heavily with a 50/50 mix of bread flour and rice flour. Tip the dough out in one motion, dust the top, and cut three strips with a bench scraper, cutting straight down and lifting without dragging. Move each strip onto the couche with the scraper. Any attempt to tighten or shape the pieces will deflate them; the irregular edges are what produce the classic ciabatta profile.
Baking hot and fast
250 °C, 18 minutes of steam, 26 minutes total. The stone preheats 55 minutes, longer than any other entry here, because a slack dough needs an instant burst of heat to set its crust before it spreads. No scoring — just dimples pressed in with floury fingertips. The shell should be thin and crisp and the interior custardy.
- Crumb rating 5/5: wildly irregular holes up to 3 cm.
- Cool on a rack, never on a tray, or the base steams and goes leathery.
- Best within four hours; after that, split and griddle it.
If your ciabatta spreads into a pancake in the first two minutes, the stone was not hot enough. An oven thermometer is not optional at this hydration — most dials read 15-20 °C high.
Sources / 参考来源
Published reference works consulted for this log: