Ciabatta Bread [PR]

This ciabatta bread recipe is absolutely delicious. I have a real hard time not eating the whole loaf immediately. The first time I made it Jake, Anita, and I devoured it in a day. It's late right now and I'm tired and actually on the phone with Anita. I think she's getting sick of listening to me type and not listening to me talk so I'll post the recipe tomorrow.

This takes 2 days to make:
~3-4 hrs day 1 for poolish
~4-5 hrs day 2 fermenting, shaping, proofing, baking
The ciabatta recipe requires one of those pre-ferments called a poolish.
For the poolish you need:
2.5 cups/11.25 oz unbleached bread flour
1.5 cups water at RT
1/4 teaspoon yeast (just dump a little out of a packet, roll up tightly, and reserve for the full dough the next day)

Stir everything together til all the flour is hydrated. It should look like really thick pancake batter. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to ferment at RT for 3-4 hrs, til bubbly and foamy. Refrigerate.

Day 2:
Take the poolish out of the fridge and allow to de-chill for an hour.
for the ciabatta bread you need:
3 cup/13.5 oz bread flour
1 3/4 tsp salt
the rest of the yeast packet
~3/4 cup water lukewarm (you can also use milk, buttermilk, or add a little olive oil to make a softer version)

Like this:
Stir together flour, salt, and yeast. Add water and poolish. Mix vigorously for ~7 minutes to form a sticky ball. Add water if necessary.
The dough for this bread is very different from your typical bread loaf dough. It is very light and sticky. Really, the more water the better when it comes to ciabatta bread. As long as it has enough consistency to shape it, you're good to go. You do not knead this dough at all so don't worry about stickiness. The idea is retain all the gas from fermentation inside the dough to form the large, irregular holes ciabatta bread is known for.
Get a decent sized work area (I use half the dinner table) and lay down a good amount of flour. You want to make a bed ~8 in square. The dough will rest here so don't be stingy with that flour or it will stick and you don't want this.
Using a spatula, transfer the dough to the bed of flour and proceed to stretch and fold.
The stretch and fold method:
Dust the top of the dough liberally with flour and pat into a rectangle. Wait a couple minutes for the dough to relax. Coat your hands with flour and gently stretch the dough from each end to twice its size. Fold the dough over on itself, letter style, to return it to a rectangular shape.
Mist the dough with spray oil, dust with flour, and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Wait 30 minutes and repeat the stretch, fold, mist, flour, cover routine. Allow to ferment for 1.5 to 2 hours.
Using a pastry scraper (or cleaver or whatever you've got) dipped in water divide the dough into 2 or 3 rectangles, taking care not to degas the dough. Generously dust the dough with flour and gently roll around to coat.
Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and cornmeal to prevent sticking. Lay the loaves (you might have to use 2 sheets to keep them from sticking to each other) on the sheet and gently fold, letter style, to form an oblong shape.
Mist the dough, dust with flour, then cover with a towel.
Let proof for 45-60 min.
Place a pan (for steam) in the oven and heat to 500F.
Place the loaves into the oven, pour 1 cup of hot water into the steam pan, and close the door.
After 30 seconds, spray the inside wall with water to create more steam. Repeat 2 more times at 30 second intervals. This will develop the crust. After the last time, reduce the temp to 450F and allow to cook for 10 minutes.
Rotate 180 degrees for even baking, if necessary, and allow to cook for 5-10 minutes more. The bread will be golden when done with a dusty look from the flour. The crust will be quite hard and crusty but will soften as it cools.
Cool the loaves on a rack for at least 45 minutes before slicing as the inside of the bread continues to cook after leaving the oven.
Be happy that you can now make some of the best bread you've ever had. Look out for the focaccia recipe. It is very similar to the ciabatta but you allow the bread to ferment/proof longer and add some other flavorings. It will blow you away.