Rustic Italian Ciabatta is the loaf that rewards everything you just learned about high hydration bread. No shaping. No scoring. No banneton. Just a wet, bubbly dough, a dusting of flour, and a hot oven. If this week’s wet dough post lit a fire under you, Rustic Italian Ciabatta is exactly where you put that fire to work.
This week inside the Academy we are baking both versions of Rustic Italian Ciabatta back to back: the yeasted poolish version and the sourdough version. Same shape. Same crackle. Two different timelines. One dough you will keep coming back to once you see just how forgiving it really is in your own kitchen.
Why Rustic Italian Ciabatta Is the Perfect Wet-Dough Graduation Bake
Hydration sits around 80 percent, but the dough is surprisingly forgiving. There is no shaping because you literally cut and flip it. There is no scoring because the irregular, rustic crumb is the look. Stretch and folds, or better yet coil folds, do all the structural work, and both versions fit a normal weekday baking schedule. If you have been fighting wet dough all week, Rustic Italian Ciabatta is where you finally stop fighting and start listening to the dough.
The Yeasted Version
The yeasted Rustic Italian Ciabatta is built on a 12 to 16 hour poolish, followed by a 3 hour bulk ferment. You can start the poolish tonight, mix tomorrow morning, and be eating ciabatta by lunch. Twenty-two to twenty-five minutes in a hot oven. Crackly crust. Wide, glossy holes. That is the whole job. This is the fastest path to a truly great high-hydration loaf and the best place for a beginner to meet wet dough on friendly terms.
The Sourdough Version
The sourdough Rustic Italian Ciabatta follows the same dough philosophy and the same handling with a longer fermentation window, using an active starter instead of commercial yeast. Deeper flavor. Better keeping. And the satisfaction of knowing your starter did the heavy lifting for you. If you have been feeding a jar on the counter waiting for the right bake to try it on, this is absolutely it.
Both Recipes Live in the Recipe Pantry
Both versions of Rustic Italian Ciabatta are waiting for you in the Recipe Pantry right now: Rustic Italian Ciabatta on the Recipe Pantry.
A quick word about the Pantry, because this is exactly why I built it. No ads. No pop-ups. No scrolling past somebody’s life story to get to the ingredients. Just the recipe, clean timing, metric and volume measurements, and a direct link to the sourdough version right at the top of the page. Bake from your phone. Bake from your laptop. Bake from the iPad propped up on a bag of flour. That is the whole point.
This Week’s Plan
Monday or Tuesday, mix your poolish or refresh your starter. Wednesday, bake the yeasted version. Thursday or Friday, bake the sourdough version. Saturday, post your crumb shots inside the Academy and we will compare both loaves side by side, crumb by crumb, crust by crust.
Wet-Dough Reminders
Wet hands, not floured hands. Coil folds, not aggressive kneading. Trust the bubbles. Keep a dough scraper within reach at all times. And remember the lesson from earlier this week: wet dough is not harder than stiff dough, it is simply different. Once Rustic Italian Ciabatta clicks, high hydration stops being scary and starts being your favorite way to bake bread at home.
Once you see the same loaf come out of two different timelines, you stop being afraid of either one. You stop thinking “I cannot do sourdough” or “yeast is cheating.” They are just tools. Pick the one that fits your week. Bake the bread.
Perfection is not required. Progress is.
Henry
