Crystal Bread (Spanish style ciabatta bread)

5 from 8 votes

Crystal Bread (Spanish style ciabatta bread)

Homemade bread with super basic ingredients. This crystal bread is a Spanish style ciabatta bread. So if you love ciabatta then you should really try this! It's super easy to make and very satisfying. This recipe is with 90% hydration. I had this when we went to Barcelona last time and was totally in love with it!

Prep Time30

Cook Time22

Passive Time14 45

Total Time15 37

Servings: loaves

Author: Bea & Marco

Ingredients

10 oz bread flour (280 g)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water (250 ml), room temperature
1 teaspoon instant yeast (3 g)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

Preparation

Add flour and salt into your standing mixing bowl with a hook attachment. Start the machine on low speed and pour the water bit by bit. You will get a very liquid mixture that's not properly mixed. Don't worry.
Use medium speed and continue kneading until everything is well combined and you have a smooth mixture. Lower the speed and add in instant yeast. Use medium speed again to mix well.
Finally lower the speed and add in olive oil. Give it one last mix on medium speed.
Pour dough into a generously greased container, use a spatula to help scrape everything out. Cover the container tightly with a cling film. Leave at room temperature for 1 hour.

Folding

Fold the dough into an envelope (refer to the video above). Wet both hands to handle it better. Cover again with cling film and leave it for 45 minutes. Then do the folding for the second time. Finally spray some oil on dough and cover the container with a greased cling film. We don't want the dough sticking to it. Place in the fridge for 12 hours.

Baking

Take out dough from the fridge and leave for 15 minutes to bring it to room temperature. Meanwhile preheat oven at 480ºF (250ºC), use bottom heat, place an empty tray at the bottom of the oven. Also bring a small pot of water to a boil.
Flip the dough on top of a generously floured baking sheet on a baking tray. Sprinkle more flour on top. Now using a dough cutter/scrapper, gently cut into 3 loaves. Try not to deflate the dough. Gently separate those loaves apart from each other.
Pour boiling water into the empty hot tray in the oven to create steam. Immediately place the baking tray with loaves on the lowest rack and bake for 10 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 390ºF (200ºC) and continue baking for another 12 minutes or until golden brown and the loaves sound hallow when tapped.
Remove from the oven and cool completely on a rack before slicing. This crystal bread is perfect as toast for breakfast. Enjoy!

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