Ciabatta Rolls

Ciabatta was invented only 40 years ago, well, 41. It is known who, where in Italy, and even why it was invented. The story goes that Italian bakers were concerned that French baguettes were beginning to be imported heavily into Italy for sandwiches. By reworking traditional Italian bread recipes, they created Ciabatta (translated as "slipper") and Panino (singular from Panini). By the late 90s, ciabatta and panini were a hit worldwide. Ciabatta is made from a high-moisture dough made from wheat flour. The dough has a minimum of ingredients. There are large holes in the puffy crumb and a crispy but thin crust on the outside (which gets even crispier after a hot press). However, there are slight variations in different regions of Italy and worldwide. For example, there are recipes made with whole wheat flour, some with the addition of milk and some with a denser crumb. To develop the right textural characteristics and flavor, as well as to prolong the life of the bread, the dough is made with a pre-ferment, which is called poolish, biga, and sponge. For ciabatta, the pre-ferment is made with 100% moisture and is 2/5 of the total dough by volume. Due to prolonged fermentation at low temperatures, this piece of dough from 1 g of yeast develops an army of microorganisms that can create those coveted holes in the crumb and also develops gluten. The final kneading is, therefore, faster. As is usually the case, there are a million ciabatta recipes floating around the web. The quick version usually involves throwing in a lot of yeast and pouring all the water into all the flour at once. It's also supposed to use high-speed dough mixing with a stand mixer + paddle attachment and sometimes even a food processor. There are super slow recipes for people who are always home and like to meditate in the kitchen. There's slow pre-ferment, slow kneading, and lots of folding. This recipe and the process are somewhere in between — not too fast or slow.

Good

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet