Recipe 6 min read

Sourdough Ciabatta: The Open, Blistered Loaf Worth Every Wet, Sticky Minute

Make proper sourdough ciabatta at home — open crumb, crisp crust, blistered top. A full recipe with tips on handling high-hydration dough this spring.

Photo by Gennady Zakharin on Unsplash
Photo by Gennady Zakharin on Unsplash

There is a specific kind of satisfaction that comes from tearing open a ciabatta and watching the crumb pull apart in long, irregular strands , all those irregular holes, that thin crackly crust, the faint sour tang that a packet loaf from the supermarket will never get close to. Spring feels like the right time to make it. The kitchen is warming up, fermentation is more predictable, and honestly after months of cold-proofed loaves there is something nice about a dough that moves fast and feels alive.

Sourdough ciabatta is one of those recipes that sounds intimidating because the dough is genuinely very wet , we are talking 75 to 80% hydration, which means it will stick to everything and behave nothing like a standard loaf. But that wetness is exactly the point. It is what gives you the open crumb and the blistered, paper-thin crust. Once you let go of the idea that dough should feel manageable and just work with the stickiness, ciabatta stops being scary and starts being one of the most rewarding bakes you can do. There is no shaping in the traditional sense. You fold, you wait, you tip, you bake. That is essentially it.

Prep20 mins
Ferment5–8 hrs
Cook25 mins
Total6–9 hrs
Yield2 loaves
DifficultyIntermediate

Dough

  • 400g strong white bread flour
  • 80g active sourdough starter (100% hydration, fed 4–6 hours before)
  • 320g water, lukewarm (split: 280g + 40g for bassinage)
  • 9g (1½ tsp) fine sea salt
  • 10g (2 tsp) extra virgin olive oil

Baker's Tips

  • Do not skip the bassinage step , adding that last 40g of water gradually after the salt helps the dough absorb more liquid without becoming a complete mess. Work it in with a wet hand, squeezing the dough between your fingers until the water is fully incorporated before adding the next splash.
  • Wet hands, not flour. Every time you touch this dough, dampen your hands first. Flour will tighten the crumb and give you a denser loaf. Wet hands let you handle the dough without it tearing or sticking to your skin.
  • If you are scaling this up or baking alongside friends, the DoughRise Bakery plan makes it straightforward to manage multiple batch sizes, split recipes across a team, and track costs properly , useful when ciabatta somehow becomes a weekly production line.

METHOD

  1. Mix the dough. In a large bowl, combine the flour and 280g of lukewarm water. Mix until no dry flour remains, then cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes. This autolyse step lets the flour fully hydrate and starts gluten development without any effort from you.
  2. Add the starter and salt. Add the active starter to the autolysed dough and squish it through your fingers until fully incorporated. Sprinkle over the salt, then add the olive oil. Mix well. Now gradually work in the remaining 40g of water (the bassinage), a splash at a time, using wet hands to fold and squeeze until the dough feels cohesive and slightly tacky. It will look rough at first. Keep going for about 3–4 minutes.
  3. Coil folds. Over the next 2–3 hours, perform a series of coil folds every 30 minutes for the first four sets. To coil fold: reach under the dough with wet hands, lift the centre until the sides fold underneath, rotate the bowl 90 degrees, and repeat. After each fold, cover the bowl and leave undisturbed. By the third or fourth fold, you should feel the dough tighten noticeably and start to hold its shape with more confidence.
    4. Why this works

    At high hydration, conventional kneading is not effective , the dough is too wet to build tension that way. Coil folds work by stretching the gluten network gently and repeatedly, letting it align and strengthen in stages. Each fold builds structure without degassing the dough, which protects those bubbles you are working so hard to create. The result is a dough that is extensible enough to hold its open crumb all the way through the bake.

  4. Bulk fermentation. After the folds are done, leave the dough to complete its bulk fermentation undisturbed. In a spring kitchen at around 21–23°C this will take roughly 4–5 hours total from when you mixed the dough. You are looking for the dough to have increased by about 50–75% in volume, with a domed top and visible bubbles just under the surface. Do not go by the clock alone , go by what the dough is telling you.

    5. INTO THE OVEN

  5. Divide and rest. Generously flour a work surface with semolina or rice flour , both are excellent for stopping this dough from sticking without tightening the crumb. Very gently tip the dough out, trying not to degas it. Use a bench scraper to divide it into two roughly equal pieces. Flour the tops lightly, cover loosely with a tea towel, and leave to relax for 20 minutes. This rest makes the final stretch much easier.
  6. Shape (loosely). Ciabatta does not get shaped like a boule or batard. Using floured hands and a scraper, gently stretch each piece lengthways into a rough rectangle about 25–30 centimetres long. Do not press down. Do not roll. The goal is to coax it into shape, not force it. Transfer each loaf to a well-floured sheet of baking parchment on a baking tray, spacing them apart. Dust the tops with flour and cover loosely.
  7. Final proof. Leave to proof at room temperature for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The loaves should look slightly puffed, jiggle gently when the tray is shaken, and feel soft but not tight when you prod them lightly with a fingertip.
  8. Preheat and prepare. At least 45 minutes before baking, place a baking stone or a heavy baking tray on the middle shelf and a small roasting tin on the shelf below. Heat your oven to 250°C (230°C fan). You want everything as hot as possible.
  9. Bake. Slide the loaves on their parchment directly onto the hot stone or tray. Pour about 150ml of boiling water into the roasting tin below to generate steam, then quickly shut the oven door. Bake for 10 minutes with steam, then remove the roasting tin (and crack the oven door for a moment if needed), reduce to 230°C (210°C fan), and bake for a further 15 minutes until the crust is deep golden-brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
  10. Cool properly. Transfer to a wire rack and leave for at least 30 minutes before cutting. The crumb is still setting inside during this time, and cutting too early will give you a gummy interior , even if the outside looks perfect. I know it is difficult. Put a house track on and wait it out.

Want to dial in this recipe for a bigger batch or different flour? Use the free DoughRise Baker's Percentages Calculator to scale every ingredient accurately without the maths headache.

Happy baking! Find everything you need at doughrise.store

Photo by Gennady Zakharin on Unsplash

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