Ciabatta

Over the last couple of days and this morning I made Ciabatta from Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice. I made it biga-style, leaving the biga to stew for 4 hours at room temperature and then about 36 hours in the fridge. That length of time really helps develop the flavors of the bread.  I made the final dough from the biga last night. It came out of the mixer pleasingly smooth and silky. I left it in the fridge again till about 3:00am (yes, I'm a crazy guy). I got up then and took it out to leave it at room temperature for a couple of hours. I shaped it into two boules around 5:00am. I then started to bake it around 6:45.  Here's the dough before it went into the oven. You can see the oven spring just waiting to happen!

I used a cold oven and cold La Cloche.  I left it in the oven for 40 minutes at 450F then took the lid off and baked it for a further 10 minutes.  Here's the finished product.  Just listen to that crust crackle!