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I made another attempt at making ciabatta today after reading over other bakers' directions. I stuck with my previous ingredients, but I tweaked the amounts a touch:

• 1 ½ c. white whole wheat
• ½ c. semolina
• 1 tsp. yeast
• 1 ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 c. warm water
• 1 tbsp. olive oil

I intended on a ratio of 4:1 for flour to water, by volume. That seemed like a good amount to keep the dough really sticky.

I first added all dry ingredients to large mixing bowl. I added warm water and mixed with my strong claw hand. (Next time, I will let it sit 10 minutes before starting.) I mix/beat for 5 minutes, poured 2 tsp. oil to coat, stretched and folded in two one way and three in the other. Covered bowl with plastic wrap and a towel. Let rise for an hour.

I then poured another 1 tsp. oil on top, stretched and folded in two one way and three in the other. Let it rise for 1.5 hours.

At that time, I coated my big cutting board with semolina. I decided to fold the dough in two again since it was a glob and I wanted a rectangle. I stretched it out a bit and laid it on the board. I coated the top with semolina and covered with plastic wrap again. It rose for 45 minutes. I preheated the oven after 15 minutes to 500°F.

I baked for 10 minutes, turned the bread 180 degrees, lowered the oven to 450°F, and baked for another 5-10 minutes.

I sliced a piece. If this were a bread show, I would not place because I didn't realize the style again. This is going to take some more reading and trials. If you look at the picture, you can see the bread flattened just fine, but there still are no large air holes inside. Bah! This may mean it's impossible to make this bread with whole grain. Perhaps I'll suck it up next attempt and use bread flour just this once.