Ciabatta Bread

I'm working on making my own gourmet breads since they are getting so costly in the grocery stores. Plus I'd rather use organic and local ingredients which I'm sure most store don't use. This bread was very tasty. Also pretty easy to make. I generously floured the cooking sheet as told in the recipe but I think I used way too much flour. All the bread was eaten and everyone commented on how good it was.

Starter:

1/2 teaspoon yeast

2/3 cup (150 ml) water

3 tbsp milk

1/4 tsp honey or sugar

1 cup (150 g) unbleached flour

Dough:

1/2 teaspoon yeast

1 cup (250 ml) water

1/2 tbsp olive oil

2 1/2 cups (350 g) unbleached flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

To make the starter Sprinkle the yeast into the water and milk in a large bowl. Leave for 5 minutes, then add honey or sugar and stir to dissolve.

Mix in the flour to form a loose batter. Cover the bowl with a dish towel and let rise for 12 hours or overnight.

To make the dough Sprinkle yeast into the water in a small bowl. Leave for 5 minutes, then stir to dissolve. Add the dissolved yeast and olive oil to the starter and mix well.

Mix in the flour and salt to form a wet, sticky dough. Beat steadily with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes; the dough will become springy and start to pull away from the sides of the bowl, but will remain too soft to knead.

Cover the dough with a dish towel. Let rise until tripled in size and full of air bubbles, about 3 hours. Do not punch down the dough. Generously flour two baking sheets and have ready extra flour to dip your hands in.

Use a dough scraper to divide the dough in half while inthe bowl. Scoop half the dough out of the bowl onto one of the heavily floured baking sheets.

Use well floured hands to pull and stretch the dough to form a roughly rectangular loaf, about 12 inches in length. Dust the loaf and your hands again with flour. Neaten and plump up the loaf by running your fingers down each side and gently tucking under the edges of the dough.

Repeat with the other half of the dough. Leave the two loaves uncovered to proof for about 20 minutes, the loaves will spread out as well as rise.

Bake in the preheater oven (425 degrees) for 30 minutes, until risen, golden, and hollow sounding underneath. Cool on a wire rack.