Ciabatta sandwich rolls

Jonathan Surratt

Light and airy rolls with a wide interior surface area for lots of sandwich spreads, meats and cheeses. The outer crust is a bit crunchy, but these rolls have a good bite perfect for sandwiching.

YIELD
6 to 8 rolls

PREP TIME
schedule 25 minutes

COOK TIME
schedule 20 minutes

TOTAL TIME
schedule 5 hours

Ingredients:

Overnight biga

120 grams bread flour (1 cup)
113 grams warm water (1/2 cup)
3 grams instant yeast (1/2 teaspoon)

Ciabatta bread dough

all of the overnight biga
240 grams bread flour (2 cups)
24 grams olive oil (2 tablespoons)
14 grams special dry milk or non-fat dry milk (2 tablespoons)
8 grams salt (1 1/2 teaspoons)
6 grams instant yeast (1 teaspoon)
152 grams warm water (2/3 cup)

Check below recipe directions
for additional notes.

Related blog post: Porchetta is NOT a small porch

Directions:

Overnight biga:
First combine your overnight biga ingredients in a small bowl. Stir it all together until there are no dry spots of flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and leave it on the counter overnight or at least 4 hours.

Ciabatta bread dough:
In the bowl of your stand mixer or a large bowl, weigh out all of your dough ingredients and also add in all of your overnight biga. If you're using a stand mixer knead on medium or medium-low for 8 minutes, until you have a slightly sticky but smooth dough. If you are kneading by hand, you will need to knead on your counter or board for about 10 to 15 minutes until you get a smooth dough.

Once your dough is formed, add it to a lightly oiled bowl and let rise, lightly covered in a warm spot in your kitchen for 1.5 to 2 hours.

After 1.5 to 2 hours, your dough should have doubled. Remove it from the bowl to your counter and flatten it out into a rough rectangle shape. Pretend your rectangle is a letter and fold it up into thirds. Turn your "letter" 90 degrees on the counter, press it into another rectangle and fold it in thirds again. Place the dough back into your bowl. The folding process you just did, adds structure to your bread.

Let dough rise again in a warm spot for another 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, it is time to shape the ciabatta sandwich rolls. Remove dough from bowl to counter and form into a rectangle.

For smaller sized rolls (8 rolls):
If you want smaller sized rolls, form dough into a rectangle 12 inches across by 8 inches tall. Using a ruler, cut dough into 3 inch x 4 inch rectangles. If you don't want to measure, just cut your rectangle into 4 rolls across by 2 rolls tall.

For longer/larger rolls (6 rolls):
If you want larger sized rolls, form dough into a rectangle 9 inches across by 10 inches tall. Using a ruler, cut dough into 3 inch x 5 inch rectangles. If you don't want to measure, just cut your rectangle into 3 rolls across by 2 rolls tall.

Once you've got your rolls cut into rectangles, add to a parchment lined sheet pan and let rise covered with oiled plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel for 1.5 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 425 F (220 degrees C)

Before you add the rolls to the oven, spray them liberally with water from a spray bottle. If you don't have a spray bottle, you can lightly spread water on each roll with your fingers.

Bake 20 minutes or ciabatta is golden. Rotate the pan halfway through the cooking time for even browning.

Notes:

You can use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, but your resulting rolls will be less chewy.

You can skip the overnight biga if you're in a huge hurry, but your resulting rolls will be less flavorful. You should not try to shorten the proofing times though, this dough needs longer time to rise.