Ciabatta Bread Recipe

250g plain flour
3g dried instant yeast
A large pinch salt
Approximately 180ml hand-hot water to mix
Semolina to coat (optional)
Mix your dough well in advance. I suggest doing this the night before you want to eat the bread.
1. Combine the flour and instant yeast in a large bowl.
2. Add the water, little by little, until you have made a slack dough.
3. Leave the dough to ferment overnight. The longer you ferment the dough, the sourer the bread will taste. If you prefer a milder flavour, shorten this stage to an hour.
4. When you return to the dough, mix in the salt. I usually do this by hand as it's easier to squeeze and knead the dough, rather than using a spoon.
5. Tip the dough onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes, until your dough has a smooth, stretchy texture. It should still be quite wet, which makes it tricky to handle. It will stick to the work surface and to your hands. Try not to add too much extra flour as you need the wetness in order to achieve the characteristic open-crumb texture.
6. Divide your dough into four pieces. Stretch each piece to a long, thin strip and fold it into three. The folding helps to incorporate extra air into the dough, for that all-important texture. Try to not squash the air out of the dough at this stage. Repeat the stretch and fold process if necessary, to create an oblong bread about 3cm thick.
7. Gently coat the bread in semolina and place it on a greased baking tray.
8. Leave it to rise again for about half an hour before baking at 200oC for 20 minutes.
Now, to achieve that crunchy crust
There is one further stage to this process.
Use a (clean) plant mister to lightly spray the bread with water before you put it in the oven. Repeat this spraying process a couple of times in the first few minutes of baking.
Your bread is cooked when it can be lifted off the tray easily and sounds hollow when you knock on its bottom.
Serve immediately - ciabatta doesn't keep well, which is another good reason to bake it yourself.