When your sourdough starter has almost reached its peak, mix the flour and water in a large mixing bowl. This will produce a wet shaggy dough. You may use your hands or a stand mixer for this. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and leave to autolyse for 30 minutes.

TIP: if you want your ciabatta bread to have a roughly rectangular shape, use a square or rectangular dish for mixing the dough, coil folding and bulk fermentation.

After 30 minutes, add the sourdough starter, salt and oil, and using your hands, squish the dough together to incorporate all the ingredients. You will have a VERY sticky dough, and that's ok. Cover the dough with a tea towel/ cloth bowl cover and leave it to rest for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, start 4 sets of stretches at 30-minute intervals. Our preferred method is coil folds.

In your large bowl, with wet hands to prevent the dough from sticking too much, lift the sticky dough that's clinging to the sides of the bowl, tucking the sides of the dough under (as if you are rolling the dough inwards into a coil). Once you've coiled it all up, twist the bowl a quarter turn and repeat again (see video below). This is your first stretch. Cover the bowl and leave the dough rest for 30 minutes.

Perform a set of stretches every 30 minutes 3 more times (that's 4 in total). After the last one, you should have an elastic dough with plenty of bubbles on the surface. Cover the bowl and leave it in a warm place for 3-4 hours (this is called bulk fermentation).

Cover the bowl with the ciabatta dough properly with plastic wrap or a bag and place it in the fridge to finish proofing for 12-24 hours. We typically leave it overnight.

Next morning, line a large baking sheet with a piece of parchment. Dust it with flour (or better yet, fine cornmeal or semolina flour).

Dust the work surface generously with flour. Take the dough out of the fridge. Using a dough scraper, carefully turn the dough out onto the floured surface. Tuck the dough under carefully to shape it into a square or rectangle, using a bench scraper. Cut the dough right down the middle to make two equal pieces of dough (kind of two flat baguettes). Separate the two pieces away from each other, as they will spread quickly. Without delay, transfer the two pieces onto a prepared baking sheet. Use a floured dough scraper to help you move the dough.

Dust the top of the dough with flour and cover it with a light tea towel. Leave the sourdough ciabatta to proof again for about 1 hour. Don't expect it to rise too much, but it should puff up a little.

At this point, preheat the oven to 230C Fan. Place an ovenproof dish with a couple of centimetres of water in the bottom of the oven. As the oven heats up, hot water will create steam, that will lead to that irresistible chewy crust of Sourdough Ciabatta.

Place the baking sheet with a ciabatta baguettes in the hot oven and bake for 25 minutes, until they are deep golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.

Transfer the bread onto a wire rack (cooling rack) and leave it to cool down to room temperature before cutting.