36-hour Ciabatta

This is my second bread recipe for weeknight baking, adapted from the original in the King Arthur Baker's Companion. It does require a fair bit of advance planning, and it doesn't hold super well in the fridge for extra days -- all the bubbles rise to the top and create a giant pocket.

The bread is probably not much like "real" ciabatta, but it makes a large flat loaf with a soft and almost sponge-like crumb -- large but even holes. It's wonderful for sandwiches because it soaks up any juices / dressings / sauces -- try grilled beef and chimichurri. With the crust peeled off and the bread battered, it also makes a killer fried sandwich (can't find the recipe right now).

When you wake up, the day prior to baking:
Mix together in a medium-small bowl to form a dry, firm, shaggy dough

1. 1/4 t instant (bread machine) yeast
2. 4 oz (1/2 c) water
3. 6.25 oz (1 1/2 c) King Arthur all-purpose flour

Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for about 12 hours, give or take a few.

As soon as you get home from work, the day prior to baking:
Pull the starter into walnut-sized pieces and place in mixer bowl. Add

1. 1 t instant yeast
2. 2 t nonfat dry milk powder
3. 1 1/2 t salt
4. 7.75 oz (1 c minus 1 T) water
5. 1 T olive oil
6. 8.5 oz (2 c) flour

Mix for ~3 min with paddle, then up to 10 more minutes with dough hook. Dough will be too wet, sticky, and slack to work by hand. Transfer to oiled bowl and cover. Every 40 minutes for 2 hours (3 times total), fold the dough over on itself a couple times. This is the key to developing enough gluten for the bread to hold its shape later. Turn it out onto a half sheet pan covered with a Silpat, forming a large flat oval blob. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and allow to rise 1.5 - 2 hours at room temperature. Transfer to refrigerator until the next night (about 20 hours).

Total time for this step is approximately 4 - 4.5 hours, or from 6pm until 10 - 10:30pm. It's tight for a workday, but doable. If you've changed the schedule so you'll bake without refrigerating, total rising time should be 2 - 3 hours at room temperature. (With refrigeration, the room temperature rising time is shorter because the dough will continue to rise somewhat in the refrigerator, especially before it gets chilled all the way through.)

As you start making dinner, the day of baking:
Preheat oven and stone to 425 F. Move second rack to top of oven. Heat 8oz of water to a rolling boil in a covered cast-iron skillet over high heat. Three minutes before baking bread, uncover skillet and transfer to top rack of oven. Place sheet pan with bread directly on baking stone and bake about 25 minutes total. Remove skillet with water after the first 10 - 15 minutes.

I use cast iron because it holds heat so well, so the water continues to boil in the oven and create steam. Also, you don't have to worry about the pan warping from the heat if it runs dry. To me, this is the best and easiest way to get steam in the oven of all the ones I've tried.