Homemade Ciabatta

Homemade ciabatta starts with a loose dough. Tip the bread flour, dried yeast and salt into a large bowl and stir them together briefly with a wooden spoon while dry, so the salt does not touch the yeast directly.

Pour in the lukewarm water and olive oil and stir with the wooden spoon until you have a sticky, very wet dough with no dry pockets of flour. Do not knead it, just mix it until smooth.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a dish towel and let the dough rise for 2 hours at room temperature, until it doubles in size and is covered with bubbles.

With a wet hand, fold the dough from all four sides into the center. Repeat this fold four times in total. This strengthens the gluten without kneading. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes between each fold.

Dust the work surface generously with flour. Carefully turn the dough out onto it and dust the top too, so it does not stick. Divide it into two pieces with a dough scraper and gently stretch each into a long slipper shape, keeping the air bubbles inside.

Transfer the loaves onto floured baking paper, cover them and let them proof for 45 minutes. Meanwhile heat the oven, together with a baking tray, to 240 degrees.

Set a bowl of hot water on the oven floor for steam. Slide the bread onto the hot tray and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden. A finished ciabatta sounds hollow when you tap its base. Let it cool on a rack so the crust stays crisp.