Hi Liz, Ciabatta dough can definitely be challenging! Most ciabatta recipes are high-hydration doughs, which helps deliver that beautiful, airy structure this bread is known for. The recipe you made comes in at around 78% hydration (the weight of the liquid as compared to the weight of the flour). Were you able to knead the dough on your mixer? It can be difficult to develop adequate strength by hand in such a wet dough, although it's not impossible. Did you use our Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, or another brand of all-purpose flour? Substituting another brand of flour could contribute to a wetter, weaker dough, since most other brands of AP flour are not as high in protein as our flour. For more help mastering your Ciabatta recipe, let Martin be your guide in this video. He is making this recipe, but it's pretty close to the recipe you made. Note that this recipe calls for our Bread flour and is also slightly lower in hydration (75%), so you might find this dough a little more manageable than the one you made.
April 11, 2025 at 2:53pm
In reply to I recently attempted to make… by Liz (not verified)
Hi Liz, Ciabatta dough can definitely be challenging! Most ciabatta recipes are high-hydration doughs, which helps deliver that beautiful, airy structure this bread is known for. The recipe you made comes in at around 78% hydration (the weight of the liquid as compared to the weight of the flour). Were you able to knead the dough on your mixer? It can be difficult to develop adequate strength by hand in such a wet dough, although it's not impossible. Did you use our Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, or another brand of all-purpose flour? Substituting another brand of flour could contribute to a wetter, weaker dough, since most other brands of AP flour are not as high in protein as our flour. For more help mastering your Ciabatta recipe, let Martin be your guide in this video. He is making this recipe, but it's pretty close to the recipe you made. Note that this recipe calls for our Bread flour and is also slightly lower in hydration (75%), so you might find this dough a little more manageable than the one you made.