Instructions: *NOTE (see below), made 12 hrs before

By coincidence, my sister just gave me a recipe for ciabatta, a slipper-shaped bread from Lake Como, which she recommended highly. Its from an Italian cookbook, the name of which I didnt copy down. I made it last week, and it was very good, but it takes a long time to make!:

Stir yeast into milk; let stand until creamy, about ten min. Add water, oil and biga, mix until blended. Mix flour and salt, add to the bowl, mix for 2 or 3 min. Knead. Let rise until doubled. Cut dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a cylinder, then shape into a rectangle, about 10x4 inches.

Place on floured baking sheets. Dimple with knuckles so they wont rise too much - dough will look heavily pockmarked. Cover with dampened towels, let rise 1 1/2 - 2 hours, till puffy but not doubled - the loaves will look flat, but will rise in the oven. Heat oven to 425 F, sprinkle loaves with cornmeal. Bake 20-25 min., spraying 3 times with water in the first 10 minutes. Cool on racks.

Biga starter for Ciabatta:
Stir yeast into warm water, let stand 10 min. Stir in remaining water and flour. Mix for 3 or 4 minutes. Let rise at cool room temp 6-24 hours - the starter will triple in volume and be wet and sticky. Refrigerate until ready to use. It freezes well, needs 3 hours at room temperature to re-activate. Can be refrigerated for about a week.

makes about 2 1/3 cups

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