Ingredients (for 2 loaves)

For the starter dough:

• 300 ml lukewarm water
• 5 g fresh yeast (room temperature)
• ½ tsp sugar
• 300 g wheat flour type 405, 550 or pizza flour Tipo 00

For the dough:

• 500 ml lukewarm water
• 5 g fresh yeast (room temperature)
• 1 tbsp olive oil + olive oil for the bowl
• 700 g wheat flour type 405, 550 or pizza flour Tipo 00
• 20 g salt
• Semola for editing

For the starter dough:
Water into a large Pour into a bowl. (The pre-dough rises very quickly!) Crumble the yeast over it and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Add the sugar, stir and dissolve. Stir in the flour and leave the bowl covered at room temperature for 12 hours or overnight.

For the dough:
Pour the water into the mixing bowl of the food processor. Crumble the yeast over it, leave to rest for 5 minutes and dissolve.

Now add the pre-dough and the oil.
The overall result is a very soft dough. It is therefore essential to use the flat beater on the food processor!
Mix the ingredients well.

Add the flour and salt and beat with a flat beater for approx. 10 minutes until the dough is elastic and comes away from the sides of the bowl.
(This work can also be done by hand with a wooden spoon, but it really requires a lot of effort).

Brush a large bowl or proofing tray with olive oil. Pour in the dough. This works best if your hands are moistened with cold water. Cover and leave to stand at room temperature for 3 hours. Again, use a large bowl for this, as the dough triples in volume and produces a lot of gas bubbles. These are very important for a successful ciabatta. Therefore, never beat or work the dough!

Then heat the Merklinger to approx. 300-350°C.

Flour two wooden sliders really well to prevent the bread from sticking to them.
Semola is particularly suitable for flouring.

Place the boards next to each other on the work surface with no space between them.

There are many different ways to get the dough onto the wooden boards. I like to proceed as follows:

Sprinkle a little flour around the edge of the bowl and carefully scrape the dough away from the edge of the bowl using a floured dough scraper. Now "pour" the dough over the two wooden boards, so to speak. Use the dough card to completely remove the dough from the bowl. Use the dough card to divide the dough between the two boards. (Or bake a "giant ciabatta" straight away.) With floured hands, reach under the side of one half of the dough and carefully pull the dough lengthways. Be really careful when doing this! Do the same with the second half of the dough.

The two halves uncovered Leave to rise for another 20 minutes.

Now place the loaves in the hot Merklinger and bake for approx. 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove the loaves and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Tip:
If you want a special crumb with more bite, you can also replace up to 2/3 of the flour with durum wheat flour (semola rimancinata).