Twisted Ciabatta Breadsticks

With a chewy golden crust and soft, airy interior, these ciabatta twisted breadsticks are the perfect combination of textures. The twisted shape doesn’t just look pretty; it also creates nooks and crannies inside the breadsticks that make them perfect for soaking up my best-ever spaghetti sauce and popular tomato-herb olive oil bread dip. This is a quick breadsticks recipe too, it has a lot of hands-off time and can be ready in less than 3 hours!

This homemade breadsticks recipe will make about 10-12 generously-sized ciabatta breadsticks. Each one is almost a foot long. They're pretty big! We are absolutely living for a chunky breadstick moment here.

To make these ciabatta breadsticks, I used a slightly smaller (and faster) version of my popular soft-baked ciabatta bread recipe.

I reduced the amount of water slightly to make the dough easier to cut and shape, but otherwise it's basically the same. I love it because you don't need any fancy flours or specialty ingredients and it's a very hands-off dough to make.

The fun, twisted shape of these ciabatta breadsticks is by far my favorite thing about them. I think you're going to love it about them too!

Ciabatta dough is very bubbly and airy, and I found that twisting the breadsticks before baking helped compress the gluten structure to give me little more control over the way they bake. They're airy breadsticks for sure, but the twisted shape means no sneaky giant pockets of air will be hiding inside.

Mixing the dough to make ciabatta breadsticks is so easy. And once it's mixed, there are four sets of folds with 15-minute resting periods in between and one 45-minute resting period, for a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes of hands-off time.

I like to use a square Cambro container when making ciabatta dough because it helps train the dough to hold a square shape, making it easier to cut later on.

Don't have a square container? You can use a large mixing bowl instead. It'll be fine.

Resting and Coil Folding (Bulk Fermentation)

After the dough has been mixed, I let it rest for a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes. During the first hour, I periodically build strength and structure into the dough by folding the dough over itself a few times.

Don't feel overwhelmed by this schedule. It's basically a 1 hour and 45 minute resting period, with folds every 15 minutes just for the first hour. That's four sets of folds total. Then 45 minutes where you don't have to do anything but remember to preheat the oven. Lucky you!

You can do coil folds, or stretch-and-folds, whichever is easier for you.

The first hour starts immediately after mixing the dough. The dough will rest for 15 minutes, and then you'll do the first set of folds. Each "set" of folds consists of four coil folds OR four stretch-and-folds.

On the first fold, the dough will be easy to stretch. By the final fold in each set, it won't stretch it quite as much. That means the gluten network is getting stronger. Each time you do a set of folds, the dough will feel smoother and stronger.

After the final set of folds, cover the bucket and let the dough rest for 45 minutes. At this point, its only job is to develop some nice air bubbles. The dough may not quite double in size, but it should look airy at the end of this resting period.

Cutting and Twisting Ciabatta Breadsticks

Preheat the oven during the 45-minute rest. These soft breadsticks don't need any time to rest after you cut them, so the oven should be ready to go when they are!

Dust the top of the breadstick dough in the bowl with flour so it doesn't stick to the bowl as you tip it out. Then turn the dough out of the bowl and onto a generously floured surface so that the sticky, un-floured side is facing up.

Use a sharp knife or bench scraper in an up-and-down motion to make your cuts (don't try to slide the blade along the counter or the sticky dough will stick to it), and leave the sticky cut edges facing open. Dust lightly with flour only if needed.

Use very little pressure when you do the twist, the dough is very soft and airy and you don't want to flatten it! You can also use one hand to gently hold one end in place and use the other hand to lift and twist the dough.

Depending on how soft or crunchy you want your breadsticks to be, I've provided two different baking times. Right out of the oven, the ciabatta breadsticks will feel hard to the touch. That's normal. They will soften as they cool.

MAKING FLAVORED BREADSTICKS

If you want to customize the flavor of your homemade ciabatta breadsticks, go for it! Just make sure whatever you add doesn't disrupt the structure of the dough.

The simplest way to do this is to sprinkle the twisted breadsticks with your favorite seeds or cheeses right before baking. This works for things like sesame seeds, poppy seeds, everything bagel seasoning, flaky salt, cheddar or Parmesan cheese, etc.

The second easiest way to change the flavor of your homemade ciabatta breadsticks is to replace the olive oil in the dough with an infused olive oil or other oil with a flavor you like. Garlic oil, scallion oil, sesame oil, etc. are all good options here!

If you want to add a lightweight ingredient like herbs or spices, you can mix up to 1½ teaspoons into the olive oil and then add them directly to the dough.

See recipe notes below for adding heavier items like olives, peppers, roasted garlic, etc.

📖 Recipe