How to make
Heat the oven to 430°F (220 °C). Keep a bowl of water in the oven the entire time during baking. You're going to need a spray bottle and a flat oven dish with baking paper.
You need to work with a mixer or spoon because the dough will be highly hydrated and exceptionally sticky. Put the flour and yeast in the mixer bowl. Stir. Add the salt, beat with the mixer on low, start adding the water in a thin trickle in 3-4 lots - this prevents it from going up the beaters.
Knead a really sticky dough, don't add any more flour. Turn the mixer speed up to form it into a ball that comes off the walls - it'll take about 7 min. of beating.
Take it off of the mixer, pour it into a slightly buttered, deep bowl and leave it to rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours in a warm oven, covered with foil. The temperature for rising is about 170°F (75 °C). Once it's semi-risen, grab it from the sides with wet hands and pull toward the top, to cover it.
Do the same with the other side. This allows for the best temperature distribution in the dough and gets rid of the carbon dioxide from it that's released. The bowl should become filled with dough. Pour it onto a floured counter.
It's just like a live dough, velvety and cannot be shaped exactly. Flour it on top. To prevent it from sticking to your hands, dip them in water and cut it into 2 parts with a metal spatula-scraper. Flour your spatula-scraper again and shape rectangular bread buns, then form them into a Ciabatta.
The dough will continue to be highly sticky and difficult to shape but will have bubbles throughout, which means it's risen well. Transfer it to an oven dish using 2 spatulas. Press it with your palms or fingers, tap it on top in several spots. Leave it to rise while your oven is heating up to 430°F (220 °C) with the bowl of water inside.
Before you put it in to bake, spray the walls of the oven with water, then place the bread in it. After 30 seconds, spray them with water once again, then one more time after another 30 sec. Bake until it gets a nice crisp on both, about 40 min. Let it cool on a cooking grid.
Source: Jennifer Menke
Notes: There's no kneading with your hands because the hydration of the dough makes it kind of like a thick cake dough, resulting in the large bubbles that are characteristic of this type of bread.
Typically, this bread and other kinds are baked on a cooking stone but personally I haven't been able to find a suitable one. The cooking stone is placed on the oven element, the oven is turned on and the bread is thrown onto it.
You'll still get an excellent bread even without a cooking stone. Olive oil and dried tomatoes go perfect with it!
