BBA Poolish Ciabatta Help.
Hello all.
I've decided to pick up the BBA as my first cookbook for baking bread. Due to a lack of tools and ingredients, I decided to go with something seemingly simple (I'm as novice as it gets); in this case, Poolish-made Ciabatta. As I'm convinced I put too much flour into the dough for it to be considered ciabatta, I'd like to know this for future reference: how do you hand mix ciabatta dough effectively? According to Reinhart, one should mix it until its smooth--using a wet spoon/free hand while rotating the bowl (please correct me if I am wrong). However, it seemed like I would have to constantly wet the hand to have the dough not stick. If I didn't, the dough would stick and as I tried to remove it, tear. If I did, the dough seems to not achieve that smooth texture. I grew tired after it failed to achieve said state and gave up--kneading it on some flour, but I'd like to tackle this again and again until I get it. I'm not used to wet doughs, but I don't like failure either.
Any reply would be great. Thanks.