I have a very healthy sourdough starter since I have been making a lot of sourdough bread lately, so when I saw a recipe on www.the-bella-vita.com for a sourdough ciabatta, I decided to make it.  It was very good.  The photo shows the dough being formed into 4 rolls of 4-5 oz. each.  I think the next time I will cut it into 6 rolls of ~3 oz. each.

240 g. water

6 g. salt

70 g. active 50/50 sourdough starter (equal weights of flour and water)

300 g. bread flour

As shown in the table below, this recipe needs to be started a day in advance, plus however much time is needed to ensure that the sourdough starter is fully active.  (The previous morning I took 60 g. of the starter and added 50 g. each of flour and water.  I then added another 50 g. each of flour and water in the evening.  The next morning, I had a very active starter to use.)

Mix the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl with a dough whisk to form a wet, sticky dough.  Knead briefly if necessary.

Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

With a wet hand, grab an edge of the dough and stretch and fold it over the dough.  Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat a few times until all the dough has been stretched.  Rest covered for 30 minutes and then repeat the stretching and folding process a total of 4 times.  The dough will tighten up significantly during this process.

Transfer the dough to a doubling container and allow it to ferment on the kitchen counter until nearly doubled, about 4 hours.  Then put the doubling container in the refrigerator for a cold fermentation of 12-24 hours.

About an hour before baking, take the dough out of the refrigerator.  Put it on a lightly floured work surface and pat it into a rectangle.  With a bench knife, cut it into 4 or 6 rectangular pieces.  Stretch the pieces out a bit and put them on a sheet of baking parchment in a half sheet pan.

About 30 minutes before baking, put a baking steel in the oven and preheat to 475 degrees.

When the oven is ready, put the half sheet pan in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.  Turn the oven down to 450 degrees, rotate the pan 180 degrees, and bake for 10 more minutes.

Cool the rolls on a rack at least 30 minutes before cutting.