I love ciabatta (the one I find at Whole Foods is especially good, in my humble opinion), but I haven't had good luck in making it. I remember pulling one loaf out of the oven, thinking it looked gorgeous, and being so disappointed when there wasn't one single hole in the crumb. None. Bur I definitely want to try again, and in the meantime this recipe for Ciabatta Rolls from King Arthur Flour sounded like a perfect way station.
I won't spend a lot of time telling you how they're made, or even sharing the recipe, because you can find all that, plus very helpful pictures, etc., here. I'll just say that this was the easiest dough I've ever made (a quick starter, then 7 minutes in the KitchenAid), and also the wettest, stickiest, sloppiest, messiest dough I've ever made. I'm not sure how off the mark I was, compared to theirs, but it was very hard to handle, and stuck like glue to anything that wasn't very very well greased or floured (the mixer paddle, the rolling surface, the plastic wrap covering the rising rolls,my hands, the rubber spatula I used to try to wrest it out of the bowl, etc. etc. etc}. I've learned from (rather limited) experience -- from making my favorite summer and fall focaccias, for instance -- that a very sticky, slack, impossible dough can make very wonderful bread, but this one almost defied belief (and made very wonderful bread).
It was almost painful to dimple the soft, puffy rounds of dough before baking them, and I wondered whether I had been too 'firm' with the first batch, but both batches ended up a little flat, almost like those sandwich thins they sell in the supermarket. {The second batch was better, as in puffier, though}. But that's okay with me. I think they'll hold up to sandwiches and burgers very well,, and they're very delicious - a little tangy, and more than a little salty, and full, just full, of holes. :)
Ciabatta Rolls, from Baking Banter
(blog post here and recipe here).
(blog post here and recipe here).
I've sent this recipe to YeastSpotting, a weekly roundup of yeast bread recipes, hosted by Susan.