Small Batch Mini Ciabatta

This small batch ciabatta recipe uses just one cup (120 grams) of flour to make a mini loaf of ciabatta bread with a gorgeous, flour-dusted crust and soft, airy interior.

One batch of mini ciabatta is the perfect size for one or two people to share, while still being small enough to make in a toaster oven. Bake it as one whole loaf or portion it into two long sandwich loaves or four dinner rolls! How you use it is really up to you.

Just like my super popular mini focaccia recipe, this small batch ciabatta recipe is perfect for when you want ciabatta, but don't want to use up a large amount of flour to make it.

This single ciabatta roll recipe is an ideal size if you live alone and are baking only for yourself, or for you and just one other person. It's also great if you just don't want to use up all your baking ingredients.

For a full size version of this recipe, check out my roasted garlic olive oil ciabatta bread (omit the garlic for a plain ciabatta). You can also use this mini ciabatta loaf to make a few slices of cheesy ciabatta garlic bread or a papermoon cheesesteak sandwich!

And if you're looking for more small batch recipes, check out my small batch cinnamon roll and mini carrot cake recipes!

Jump to:

• About This Recipe
• What is Ciabatta?
• Ingredient Notes
• Instructions: Mixing Ciabatta Dough
• Resting and Folding (Bulk Fermentation)
• Shaping and Baking - How to Get Ciabatta's Unique Stripes
• A Note on Temperature and Dough Rising
• Suggested Equipment
• Storage Notes
• Practical Tips and Recipe Notes
• BONUS: Weight to Volume (Cups) Conversion + Instructions
• Recipe FAQ - Overnight rise, troubleshooting folding, wet/dry dough, sourdough, etc?
• TL;DR - Recipe Summary
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

About This Recipe

This small batch ciabatta recipe uses just 120 grams of flour in the dough. That's just one cup — ONE CUP! — of flour.

To make this mini ciabatta you'll need 3 grams (1 teaspoon) instant yeast, which means one packet of instant yeast (7 grams / 2¼ teaspoons) can make two batches of mini ciabatta.

To develop gluten and give the mini ciabatta bun strength and structure to rise in the oven with big air bubbles inside, this recipe uses a gentler technique called folding to work the dough.

Because ciabatta is a very free-form bread, you don't need a special pan to bake it. Just plop it onto a parchment lined sheet pan, and you can bake this mini ciabatta in your oven or in a toaster oven if that's all you've got!

What is Ciabatta?

With its rustic shape, open crumb, and thick, chewy, flour-dusted crust ciabatta has all the markings of an artisanal bread borne of ancient tradition stretching back centuries.

But ciabatta was actually invented in the 1980s by Arnaldo Cavallari, an Italian baker. Inspired by the long, flat, pillowy shape, he named his new bread ciabatta after the Italian word for slipper.

The goal was to create a bread export that could compete with the popularity of the French baguette. By all counts, it was a huge success.

"Marks & Spencer brought the loaves to the United Kingdom in 1985 during a Mediterranean-eating craze, and Orlando Baking Company claims to be the first U.S. bakery to produce the loaves, starting in 1987."

Eater.com, "Your Favorite 'Old-World' Bread Was Invented in the '80s"

Ciabatta is a high hydration bread made using flour, salt, yeast, water, and sometimes olive oil. Typically it is made using a high protein bread flour and a pre-ferment like a poolish or a biga and requires long, slow rise times to build that airy texture.

For this small batch ciabatta recipe, I've made adjustments to my usual base ciabatta recipe, which takes 4-5 hours, to speed up the timing to just about 2 hours. That way you don't have to work half a day just to make one small loaf!

Ingredient Notes

Here are the ingredients that you'll need to make this mini ciabatta! See recipe card (at the end of the post) for ingredient quantities.

• Flour - Regular all purpose flour! I use King Arthur Baking Company's all purpose flour which has a slightly higher protein content (closer to a bread flour, which gives you a chewier, more elastic bread) than other brands of all-purpose flour, so if you're using a different brand of flour you may have better results with their bread flour.
• Yeast - This recipe uses instant yeast (sometimes called "rapid rise" or "bread machine" yeast). If using active dry yeast, increase the amount of yeast by 25%.
• Salt - I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt which is half as salty as other brands and has larger crystals that dissolve easily. If measuring by weight (as you should be!), you can use any brand of salt (table salt or fine sea salt will be just fine). But if you're measuring by volume (teaspoons) and using a different brand of salt, even a different brand of kosher salt, cut the amount of salt in half.
• Water - The water should be warm to the touch but not hot. If you have an instant read thermometer, you're aiming for somewhere around 85°F.
• Olive Oil - I like using a robustly flavored extra virgin olive oil here to bring that flavor to the dough. The olive oil also helps make the dough super soft and stretchy.

Instructions: Mixing Ciabatta Dough

Making this mini ciabatta takes just about 2-ish hours, start to finish. It's a very hands off bread recipe that is meant to have a rustic, imperfect shape.

There's three 20 minute resting periods, one 30 minute resting period, and one 5-30 minute resting period, so the amount of active work time is minimal.

If you're new to baking or bread making this is a great place to start. You can do this!

A dough whisk is great for mixing sticky, wet doughs. And this is a VERY STICKY, VERY WET dough. If you don't have a dough whisk, a spatula or your hands will work just fine.

Scrape any excess flour off the sides of the bowl, and use lightly damp hands to gather the sticky dough into a messy ball at the bottom of the bowl. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Resting and Folding (Bulk Fermentation)

After the dough has been mixed, it's time to let it rest. During this one hour rest (called "bulk fermentation"), you're going to periodically build strength and structure into the dough using a technique called folding.

By letting the ciabatta dough rest between these sets of folds, air bubbles and gas (produced by the yeast) are trapped inside the dough's gluten network, which gives the ciabatta an open, soft, and airy crumb.

I know, it sounds complicated! But all you really need to know is it's a one hour rest, with folds every 20 minutes. That's three sets of folds total.

After the initial 20 minute rest, you'll do the first set of folds. Gently grab the top edge of dough with a damp hand and stretch it away from you. Then fold it down over the center of the dough, like you're folding it in half. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and repeat all the way around, tucking all the edges up across the center.

On the first set of folds the dough might feel very weak or even tear slightly. That's okay. Just keep going. It will continue to strengthen as you keep folding.

On the first fold in the set, the dough is fully relaxed and will be easier to stretch. By the final fold in the set, you'll notice you can't stretch it quite as much. That's because the gluten network is getting stronger.

Don't overdo the folding or force the dough to stretch further than it wants to — four folds in the bowl followed by four slap-and-folds is plenty. You don't want the dough to start tearing.

Each time you do a set of folds you'll notice the dough feeling airier, smoother, and stronger.

The dough will relax into the bottom of the bowl between sets of folds, then tighten up as you fold it.

Learning what the dough "should" feel like takes practice. Pay attention as you do the folds — when it looks smooth and doesn't want to stretch much anymore, stop folding. Cover the dough and let it rest.

When the hour is up after the final set of folds, flip the dough so the seam side of the dough is underneath, cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. This is the end of the bulk fermentation period.

From this point on, we want the dough to focus on letting those gorgeous air bubbles ciabatta is known for develop. Handle the dough as little as possible to avoid collapsing the bubbles!

Start preheating your oven during this resting period. (If you're using a toaster oven you can wait to start preheating at the end of the resting period!)

Shaping and Baking - How to Get Ciabatta's Unique Stripes

Dust the top of the dough in the bowl with flour. Then gently tip the dough out of the bowl and onto a floured surface so that the sticky, un-floured side is facing up. Dust that lightly with flour too.

Use a sharp knife or bench scraper in a clean up-and-down motion to make your cuts, and leave the cut edges facing open. Don't tuck them under or try to hide them. Ciabatta is a very loose bread — no fancy shaping required.

Then cover the dough with a clean towel and let it rest for about 5-30 minutes before moving on to the next step. The longer you let it rest the airier it will be inside.

As the dough rests, it expands, and the flour on the countertop underneath the dough gets trapped in the wrinkled creases, creating a unique striped pattern.

To reveal those beautiful tiger stripes and give this mini ciabatta its own special fingerprint, flip the dough over as you transfer it onto the sheet pan, right before baking.

This is a trick I picked up in a class at King Arthur Baking HQ in Vermont. And while it's technically optional, it gives the ciabatta such a pretty pattern on top. I never skip it.

Don't have a bench scraper? Use your hands to gently lift and flip the ciabatta. It'll be fine.

Ciabatta is a very freeform loaf — you can try to gently stretch or shape it into a square or an oval or a circle, but ultimately it's going to be a bit unpredictable.

Bake the mini ciabatta for 20-22 minutes at 450F. It will be slightly paler around the sides, but a beautiful golden color on top peeking through the flour.

When you take the ciabatta out of the oven it will feel hard and very crusty. Don't worry about it — it will soften as it cools.

Let it cool before slicing. You can let it cool on the sheet pan or transfer it to a cooling rack, either is fine.

If you cut it while it's still hot, the steam and moisture trapped inside will turn the starches to mush. No one wants that!

A Note on Temperature and Dough Rising

Temperature is the main factor in determining how quickly or slowly your dough rises (proofs). This includes the temperature of ingredients in your dough, as well as the ambient temperature of the room where you are leaving your dough to rise.

In baking, "room temperature" is generally somewhere around 70-75°F.

Depending on how cool or warm your water is, and how cool or warm your kitchen is, your dough may rise faster or slower.

• Warmer temperatures increase yeast activity. (But temperatures over 110F can kill it!)
• Cooler temperatures slow yeast activity. (For a long, slow proof, put the dough in the fridge overnight after the final set of folds.)

If your dough is rising slowly and your kitchen is cold, find somewhere warmer to put your dough during the resting periods. If your kitchen is very warm, your dough might be a lot more active and ready to bake sooner than the times given in the recipe.

Just because the dough isn't ready right at the times given in the recipe doesn't mean it's not working — there might be other factors affecting how quickly or slowly it gets there! You may need to make adjustments.

Suggested Equipment

You really don't need a lot of fancy equipment to make a mini ciabatta, but here's a few that might make the process easier for you!

• Kitchen Scale - The most accurate way to measure ingredients for baking! For best results with this recipe, you'll need to use a kitchen scale.
• Dough Whisk - A dough whisk is one of my favorite whisks! It's a sturdy, mostly open wire coil that is designed to make mixing sticky wet doughs easy. The coil cuts through the dough easily, breaking up any sneaky lumps of flour hiding inside.
• Bowl Scraper - A flexible plastic bowl scraper is a great way to fold the dough over itself in the bowl. You don't need one; a damp hand is fine. But if you don't love the feeling of dough sticking to your hands or want help gently releasing the dough from the bowl and onto the counter, a bowl scraper is the tool for you.
• Bench Scraper - A flat metal bench scraper with a thin edge is great for cutting your mini ciabatta dough into smaller portions AND for sliding under the dough to lift and flip it before it goes into the oven. Again, you don't need to use one, but it can be helpful!
• Flour Duster - Ciabatta is a very floury bread, but too much flour can be unpleasant! A flour duster helps you get a nice, even dusting of flour on your mini ciabatta without overdoing it.
• Instant Read Thermometer - To check the temperature of your water!
• Baking Steel - [OPTIONAL!] If you have a baking steel or pizza stone, you can launch your mini ciabatta directly onto it and bake it that way instead of on a sheet pan.

Storage Notes

I highly doubt your mini ciabatta will last long enough to require storage, but it will last for 3-5 days in an airtight container or plastic bag.

Once you cut your ciabatta open and expose the inside to air, it will go stale faster, even in a plastic bag. As always, do not refrigerate bread.

You can freeze mini ciabatta for later — wrap it well with plastic or foil, then tuck inside a resealable bag and press as much air out as possible. To reheat from frozen, unwrap the bread and place the whole loaf in a 350F oven for about 30 minutes.

Practical Tips and Recipe Notes

• Be gentle with ciabatta dough. The folding process is as much about incorporating air as it is about building strength into the dough. You don't want to knock all the air out of it. Once it's in its final rest, you want to handle it as little as possible to preserve as much of the air inside the dough as possible. This doesn't mean you can't gently stretch it into a long rectangle shape or cut it into rolls — just use very gentle pressure! Think "fingertip light" pressure. Tug on it gently, don't squish or pinch.
• Keeping Track of Timing: To keep track of your timing with the folds, set a 20 minute timer and a 1 hour timer (or one hour and two minute timer) when you finish mixing the dough. Reset the 20 minute timer when you do the first set of folds. When you do the second set of folds, there should be about 20 minutes left on the 1 hour timer (it may be off by a minute or two given the time it takes to do the folds themselves!).
• A note on oven temperature: Most ovens do not run true to temperature! In my past three apartments my ovens were off from anywhere to 50 to 20 degrees and all of them would tell me they were at the right temperature 15 minutes before they actually were. This can make a huge difference in how your bread turns out. Use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is at the right temperature.
• Dust off excess flour before baking: Some people like a super floury ciabatta, others prefer less flour on the outside. Whatever flour is on top of your ciabatta loaf when it goes into the oven is going to be there when it comes out If you prefer a less floury ciabatta, dust it off.
• Baking at high altitude: Increase the water to 110 grams. You can add up to an additional 2-3 grams of water beyond that if it still seems very dry or use wet hands for the folding stages. You may also find that a higher protein bread flour works better for you!

BONUS: Weight to Volume (Cups) Conversion + Instructions

I really debated whether or not to include volume measurements here, because measuring your ingredients with a kitchen scale is much more accurate and will give you the right ratio of dry and liquid ingredients so that the ciabatta dough behaves the way you want it to.

I tested and developed this recipe using weight measurements for accuracy. I can't promise how it will turn out if you measure with cups because not all cups are the same! That said, I am making a rare exception and providing them for you here. **Please read this carefully!!**

• To properly scoop flour in cups: Stir and fluff the flour in your container well so there's plenty of air in it. Use a spoon to gently spoon the flour into the one cup measure, then sweep any excess off the top. The cup should feel pretty light and the flour should not be tightly packed into it.
• To properly measure water: Use a liquid measuring cup. Place it on a flat surface, fill with water just until the water reaches the correct marker when you look at it at eye level.
• To properly measure with measuring spoons: Scoop dry ingredients flat, do not use heaping scoops. Olive oil should not overflow the rim of the measuring spoon.

Here are the volume measurements (use at your own risk):

• 1 scant cup all purpose flour, well aerated and properly scooped (see above)
• ½ cup warm water
• 1 ¼ teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt (use ½ teaspoon of any other brand of salt)

Troubleshooting: If the dough seems overly dry, use wet (instead of damp) hands to mix the dough to incorporate more water or add water ¼ teaspoon at a time until the dough looks right. If the dough seems overly wet and isn't developing strength as you fold it, very lightly dust in more flour as you do the folds.

If you measure with cups and the recipe did not turn out right, that is likely why the recipe did not turn out right. Try again!

Recipe FAQ - Overnight rise, troubleshooting folding, wet/dry dough, sourdough, etc?

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