Ciabatta bread

By jgroeneveld

Great everyday bread that we like to put on the table with our homemade sauce and fresh pasta dish on Sunday afternoon. This bread freezes well and also easy to reheat in oven to bring back fresh and crusty"ness" to the loaf.

Ingredients

• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 1/4 tsp table salt
• 1/4 tsp yeast
• 1 1/2 cups cool water (55 to 65 degrees F)
• additional flour for dusting

Preparation

Step 1

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and yeast. Add the water, and using a spatula or your hand, mix until you have a wet sticky dough, about 30 seconds. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours.

When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Dust the surface of the dough with flour and, with lightly floured hands, nudge the dough into roughly a 14 inch square. Fold the dough in half, and then crosswise in half again, so you have a square, roughly 7 inches on each side.

Place the dough in a warm, draft free spot, cover it with a tea towel, and let it rise for 1 hour. The dough is ready when it is almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, soak the clay baker for 10 minutes.

Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475 degrees F, with a rack in the center, place the baker on the pizza stone, and put them in the center of the rack.

Using pot holders, carefully remove the hot pot and stone from the oven, taking care not to set them on a cold surface. Cut the dough in half. Shape each piece into a long flat loaf. Generously dust each loaf with flour (you will bake 1 loaf at a time). Pick up 1 loaf with both hands, quickly but gently stretch it into almost the length of the clay pot (roughly 10 inches), and place it on the stone. Cover the loaf with the inverted pot, and bake for 20 minutes.

Uncover the loaf and place the pot on another rack in the oven to keep it hot for the second loaf. Continue to bake the first loaf for 10 to 20 minutes, checking the color of the loaf once or twice. IT is done when the crust is a light chestnut color. Carefully remove the stone from the oven. Transfer the ciabatta to a rack to cool thoroughly, and bake the second ciabatta the same way.