My journey through learning to bake a decent Ciabatta bread. What got me interested in Ciabbata bread was a very popular posting on The Fresh Loaf website. Some guy named Jason posted a recipe for a 95% hydration ciabatta bread you could make in your Kitchen Aid mixer - quickly.
I had only baked sourdough up until that point and had NO CLUE a 95% hydration dough was even possible. But... I had flour, yeast, water, salt and... a Kitchen Aid mixer. I duplicate his recipe exactly... 500 grams of bread flour, 475 grams of water, 7 grams of active dry yeast and 15 grams of salt. I mixed it up and baked it in about 4 hours, start to finish.
I found the crumb to be too wet and that much salt left a salty after taste in my mouth. I cooked a batch at 90% hydration with 10 grams of salt. Still too wet of a dough. I cooked a batch at 85% hydration with 2% salt and I liked it better. I got a better crumb feel in my mouth, not as wet as the other attempts.
Then... after watching Jacob's video about bakers percentages I noticed a chart of the different types of bread and it said Ciabatta should have 2.5% fat. So... I mixed a batch just as it was listed on that chart. Bread flour 500 grams=100%, water 80% of bread flour weight. Salt 2%, fat 2.5%. Much better... The crumb was still moist but not wet and the crust was a better color.
Yesterday I tried a 75% hydration loaf with a 5% fat content as a percent of the flour weight. My best loaf yet! Now I'm thinking there has to be a way to improve on it even more.
This question is to Jacob and others that have lots of experience with Ciabatta bread. How about using preferments and stretch and folds for Ciabatta dough? Should I allow the dough to triple in mass, as Jason suggested? Should I be using that much yeast? How do I get a slightly crispy crust? The crust I've been getting regardless of the hydration level is paper thin and soft. My desire is to make the best Ciabatta bread ever made... Time is not an issue if I need to take a few days to get the best dough/loaf possible... So be it. Any suggestions?