Cecilia's Ciabatta Rolls

Ciabatta Rolls are the perfect vehicle for a delicious sandwich. When I lived on the Amalfi Coast in Italy, freshly baked ciabatta stuffed with fresh mozarella, greens, cheeses, tomatoes, and cured meats was our favorite lunch. In New Zealand we eat something very similar but it is called a filled roll.

Ingredients and Instructions

The night before:

Before you go to bed the night before make an easy poolish.

• 1 cup of High Protein Bread Flour (140g)
• 3/4 cup of water (177g)
• pinch of yeast

Mix together and leave out on the counter overnight (12 - 18 hours)

In the morning:

1. Mix together in a large bowl.

   • 2 cups Janie’s Mill High Protein Bread Flour (280g)
   • 2 tsp dry yeast (6 grams)

2. Add 1 cup warm water (236 g), to the poolish you made last night. (keep 1/4 cup of water for adjustments)

3. In a small bowl mix 2 Tb water and 1 tsp (6g) salt to dissolve; set aside.

4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients all at once (except the salt). Mix until combined (no longer than 4 minutes for this step), add more water as necessary. You want a high hydration dough. Rest in the bowl for 20 minutes.

5. Sprinkle with dissolved salt and mix until incorporated (1 minute) . Allow to rest another 20 minutes.

6. This should be a very wet dough. It should be sticky. Use a bowl scraper to help you manage it from now on. Oil the counter and scoop the dough out onto the counter. Stretch and fold the dough gently, every 30 minutes for 90 minutes.

7. Return to oiled bowl, cover and rest for about 2 hours (depending on the temperature in your kitchen) or until doubled. If you can press your floury finger into the dough and leave an impression the dough is ready to be shaped and baked.

8. Sprinkle a generous amount of bench flour onto the counter. Gently release your dough out onto the counter. Sprinkle more flour on top. Gently deflate, pat into a square or rectangle. Rest.

Turn oven on to 500F. Place a pizza stone or baking steel in the middle of the oven.

9. Cut dough into 6 rectangles or squares roughly the same size, gently shape and tighten by tucking the edges under. Place rolls onto parchment paper on a pizza paddle. Rest 30 minutes while your oven heats up - the rolls will puff up. Be very gentle - we want to keep all those bubbles of air intact in the dough.

10. When you are ready to bake, place a pan of ice into the bottom of the oven (this adds steam) You need plenty of steam for ciabatta. I have roasted vegetables in the oven at the same time as making the ciabatta plus the dish of ice to get as much steam as possible in there.

11. Launch rolls, paper and all, onto the pizza stone or baking steel. Turn oven down to 475F. Bake for 22 - 25 minutes until golden brown. (all ovens are different so use your discretion)