Sourdough Ciabatta

Been making quite a bit of sourdough lately from a starter I created using a method by Nancy Silverstone. It is a starter which uses grapes, I grabbed a bunch from a friends small vineyard. I keep the starter the consitency of a moist dough, not runny but almost as if you could make a loaf by cooking just the starter. My starter sits in a quart jar with a loose lid since it is common for it to rise up above the opening and need to be knocked back into the jar. I try to use it to make bread a least once week but since it is a stiff starter it can go for a bit longer before getting too weepy - wettish and saggy. 

With the starter I make baguettes, country style loaves, bagels, pizza dough, focaccia, sweet rolls and other types of bread. I don't use sourdough recipes but usually just replace the yeast in a recipe with about 100 to 150g of starter. Most of the breads I make use the low/no knead technique where the dough is roughly combined then use your hands to squeeze it like its mud to combine then stretching it 3 to 4 different times between 30 to 45 mins waits. Might have a longer rise time for each recipe but that will depend on the vitality of the starter.

For my sourdough version, I use a Rustic Ciabatta recipe from King Arthur. The recipe is two steps with a rest overnight between the steps. Both steps ask for yeast, I use only 100g sourdough starter. 

For the first step, I like to add water to the bowl then add my starter. I let the starter sit for 15 to 20 mins to absorb water.   Next, I mix in the flour until combined, cover it with a damp cloth and plate over the top to rest in refrigerator for 8 to 12 hour.  

Next morning, I remove the dough from the bowl and place it in my Kitchen Aid mixing bowl.  I add the water then the flour and finally the salt for day two.  I cover the bowl and let it sit for an hour to let it warmup. 

Once the dough has warmed, put the bowl on my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook. I let the mixer knead the dough as described in the recipe. The dough is nicely kneaded if you can pull it out in one piece from the mixing bowl to put back in the original cleaned bowl. If you don't have a Kitchen Aid you can use your hands or a spoon to mix in the flour.  You will need to do a few more good stretches as the dough rises - read following.

I return the dough to the original bowl or a proofing box to rest, be stretched and rise.  I let the dough rise for 3 to 6 hours with intermittent stretch about every 30 to 45 mins.   Goal is to build up nice strong gluten. When I stretch, I intentionally try to stretch the dough as far a possible, usually 12 to 20" then fold it over with flop back to the bowl. Rotate the bowl 1/3 and do it 3 more times then let it sit to next stretch.

Once the dough has been stretched and had a final 30 to 45 min rest. I remove the dough to my counter using wet hands. I have a stone counter so usually have no flour on it.   I do have a bakers scraper ready. I also have a bakers linen ready with parchment sheets placed to hold the loaves.  You can skip the parchment and dust the linen with whole wheat flour.   

To shape a loaf, I fold the dough from right to left (wetting my hands again if needed), next left to right, next bottom to top and finally top to bottom. For the top to bottom, I usually lift the dough up and tuck the edges under.  Check this for shaping a loaves or a Ciabatta recipe with photos.  Now lightly shape the dough into a rectangle shape and place it in the middle of the dusted linen on top a piece of parchment paper sitting on the linen.  I pull the sides up of the linen so the dough it tucked.   I try to have the sides of the linen high enough so I can place a light towel across without touching the dough. Let the dough rests for 60 to 90 mins.

With enough time remaining in the rest, I turn on my oven to heat it up to 425F - prescribed in the recipe. I cook the bread on a baking stone I always have in my oven.  If you prefer, you could use a cookie sheet.  If using a stone, keep the dough on the parchment and move to a pizza peel to slide the dough on to the stone.  If using a cooking sheet, keep the dough on the parchment and move it to the cookie sheet.  Make sure to have 2" or more between loaves if making more than one. 

Cook the dough as prescribed in the recipe, important is towards the end of the cooking. The recipe calls for about 22 mins cooking, the bread will look golden at this time but might not be done all the way through. Instead of cooking longer, follow the recipe by turning off the oven and letting the dough cool in the oven so another 30 mins or so. It will also stop you from scalding yourself trying to cut the first hot slice.