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Poolish Ciabatta

Ciabatta al Poolish

Eight high-hydration loaves with a blistered crust and open, irregular crumb.

Poolish ciabatta with blistered crust and an open irregular crumb.

A wine-farm style ciabatta built on an overnight poolish. The dough is handled gently, folded rather than tightened, divided without degassing and baked with heavy steam.

8 loaves, approximately 935 to 940 g dough each before baking

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Ingredients

Batch

Poolish

Final dough

  • Strong bread flour2 kg
  • Water1.4 kg
  • Fine salt80 g
  • Instant yeast12 g

Method

Mix and bulk ferment

  1. Combine the ripe poolish with the final flour, water, salt and yeast gently. Do not overmix. The target dough temperature is 24 to 25°C.

  2. Bulk ferment for about 3 hours, giving four stretch-and-fold rounds at 30-minute intervals early in the bulk.

  3. The dough should become glossy, pillowy and full of air.

Divide and bake

  1. Flour the bench generously and tip the dough out gently. Do not degas.

  2. Cut eight rectangles of about 935 to 940 g each and transfer them to floured trays without tightening the dough.

  3. Proof for 30 to 40 minutes.

  4. Bake at 250°C with heavy steam for the first 15 minutes. Vent the oven and continue until the total bake reaches about 22 to 25 minutes and the crust is blistered and crackling.

Chef’s notes

  • The source labels this 80 to 82 percent hydration, but the written formula contains 3.4 kg water to 4 kg flour, which is 85 percent hydration. The ingredients are preserved and the hydration figure is corrected here.
  • The written formula weighs about 7.5 kg before fermentation loss, so eight divisions are closer to 935 to 940 g than 925 g.

Keeping

Best on the day it is baked. Once completely cool, freeze whole loaves airtight and refresh in a hot oven after thawing.

Allergens and diet

Gluten.

Last refined · September 2026