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Olive Oil Ciabatta on the Kamado

A very wet poolish dough with a wild, open crumb and a thin, crackly crust. Baked on a cordierite stone with a burst of steam, this ciabatta comes out of the kamado like it left a hearth oven.

Quick answer

Make a poolish the night before, mix an 80% hydration dough with olive oil and ferment it with stretch-and-folds. Shape rustic ciabattas without degassing and bake them on a stone at 245°C with steam for 22 to 25 minutes, until the crust is golden and the crumb full of holes.

Dos chapatas de aceite de oliva recién horneadas sobre piedra, con corteza dorada crujiente y miga muy alveoladaSave to Pinterest
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Prep
45 min
Cook
25 min
Servings
8 servings
Temperature
245 °C

Ingredients

  • strong bread flour (W ≥ 300)500 g
  • water at 20°C400 ml
  • active dry yeast2 g
  • extra virgin olive oil30 ml
  • fine sea salt11 g
  • fine durum semolina (for dusting)40 g
  • diastatic malt or honey (optional)5 g
  • ice (for the steam)250 g

Method

  1. 01

    The poolish (the night before)

    Stir together 150 g flour, 150 ml water and half the yeast. Cover and leave 12-16 h at room temperature, until the poolish is bubbly, domed and smells distinctly tangy.

  2. 02

    Final mix

    Dissolve the rest of the yeast in the remaining water and mix it into the poolish and flour until no dry lumps remain. Rest 30 min (autolyse). Add the salt and olive oil and work the dough with a wet hand or scraper until smooth. It will be very sticky — that is exactly right.

  3. 03

    Bulk fermentation with folds

    Cover and ferment 2.5-3 h at room temperature. Every 30 minutes, with a wet hand, give it a set of folds: stretch one side up and over the centre, rotating the bowl four times. The dough will go from soupy to puffy, glossy and full of bubbles.

  4. 04

    Rustic shaping

    Tip the dough onto a counter heavily dusted with semolina, without degassing it. Dust the top, stretch it into a rectangle and cut it into two or three strips with the scraper. Flip each strip over (top to bottom) and proof 45 min on a floured cloth.

  5. 05

    Fire up and stabilise the kamado

    Set up the ConvEGGtor with the cordierite stone on top and bring the kamado to 245°C, dome closed. Let the stone soak up heat for 30-40 min. Place an empty metal tray at the base, near the coals, to make the steam.

  6. 06

    Bake with steam

    Slide the ciabattas onto the stone with a floured peel. Toss the ice into the hot tray and close the dome at once to trap the steam. Bake 22-25 min; open the vents for the last 5 min to dry and colour the crust. Cool on a rack before cutting.

About this recipe

Ciabatta —chapata in Spain— was invented in the 1980s as an artisan answer to the industrial sandwich loaf. Its signature is an open, hole-riddled crumb wrapped in a thin crust that shatters when you tear it.

Hydration near **80%** is what opens the crumb: water builds the elastic gluten and the internal steam that inflates the holes. The trade-off is a sticky dough you handle with **wet hands**, folds and patience, never by adding more flour.

With the **ConvEGGtor** and a screaming-hot **cordierite stone**, the kamado behaves like a bread oven: a hearth that conducts heat by contact and a closed dome that traps humidity. A shot of **steam** in the first minutes delays the crust and lets the loaf spring.

The poolish —a loose overnight preferment— brings the faintly lactic, tangy flavour and the extra strength a straight dough cannot match. Extra virgin olive oil softens the crumb and keeps it fresh longer.

In 30 seconds

Poolish the night before, an 80% dough with EVOO, fermentation with folds, rustic shaping without degassing and a bake on stone at 245°C with steam. The result: a thin crust and a wild crumb, ready to dip in oil or build into a sandwich.

This is an advanced dough: if high hydration is new to you, drop the water by 5% and build it back up over your next bakes until the handling clicks.

Editor's tips

  • Weigh everything in grams: at 80% hydration a 20 ml water error completely changes the handling. Always work with wet hands and scraper, never extra flour, or you will tighten the crumb.
  • For a proper steam burst, preheat an iron tray or a handful of lava rocks below the grate and tip the ice on just as you load the bread. Close the dome fast: steam that escapes will not lift the crumb.
  • Do not degas while shaping: every bubble you keep is a hole in the final crumb. Handle the dough as little as possible, use plenty of semolina so it will not stick, and let gravity stretch the strips.

Gear for this recipe

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FAQ

  • Can I use all-purpose flour?

    Better a strong bread flour (W ≥ 300, around 12-13% protein). A weak flour cannot hold 80% hydration or the long ferment, and the crumb comes out tight and gummy.

  • Why is my crumb so closed?

    Almost always too little hydration, too much flour at shaping, or degassing the dough. Raise the water gradually, dust with just enough semolina and shape gently, without pressing it down.

  • How do I get steam in a kamado?

    Place an empty metal tray at the base while it preheats and, as you load the bread, throw in a handful of ice or a good splash of boiling water. Shut the dome at once and keep it closed for the first 10 minutes.

  • Can I skip the poolish?

    Yes, with a straight dough, but you lose flavour and some of the open crumb. In a hurry, use 4 g yeast, drop the poolish and stretch the bulk ferment to 3-4 h with its folds.

  • How do I know it is done?

    The crust should be deeply golden and sound hollow when you knock the base with your knuckles. With a probe thermometer, the internal temperature sits around 96-98°C.

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