This recipe, developed by Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery in New York, is now world-famous. When the ciabatta comes out of the oven, it looks like it has been made by a boutique bakery.
Makes 1 loaf
Preparation time: 15 minutes (plus about 14 hours resting time – it’s worth the wait, believe me!)
Baking time: about 40 minutes
Oven temperature: 230°C
• 750ml stone-ground white bread flour • 10ml salt
• 5ml instant yeast
• 375ml water
2 Cover the mixing bowl with cling wrap and let the dough rise for 12–14 hours at a moderate room temperature. The warmer it is, the faster the dough will rise, but rather aim for long and slow. The dough will double in volume and form bubbles on the surface. 3 Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface – it will be runny and sticky, so use sufficient flour to prevent it from sticking to the surface.
5 Wipe off excess flour from the dough and fold the dough in thirds along the width – left over the middle, right over both layers – so that it now lies in a long strip in front of you.
Sprinkle a layer of flour over the dough so that you can work with it more easily, and press it into a rough rectangle.
1 In a large mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients with a wooden spoon until they just come together.
6 Fold a third of the dough strip upwards, over the middle third; then fold the last third down so that the dough forms a square. Cover loosely with cling wrap and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
7 Lift up the dough square and stretch the top of the dough down – around the sides – until it forms a round ball. Place the dough ball with the seam side down on a clean tea towel that has been thickly sprinkled with flour. Sprinkle some more flour on top and fold the top of the tea towel lightly over the dough. Leave to rise for 2 hours.
8 Preheat the oven and put an empty cast-iron pot and its lid in the oven for the last 30 minutes of the bread’s rising time to warm up. It must get piping hot! Carefully remove the pot from the oven and, using the ‘floured’ tea towel, turn the risen dough into the hot pot, so that the seam side is now on top. Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 10–15 minutes until the crust has turned a lovely golden colour.