Ciabatta

     My ciabatta came out pretty good.  I was hoping to have some bigger holes in the finished product.  The bread did have the chew that a ciabatta should have.  I have decided that I need to buy a breadstone,  I have done my research, and I have my eyes set on one at King Arthur.  It's a large, rectangular and made in the United States.
     My mother was a huge advocate of buying American.  This sometimes made buying her a gift a little difficult; do you know how hard it is to find clothing or other merchandise made in the United States. Start looking at labels.  One year we had a tee-shirt made for her with an American flag that read, "Buy America, Put America Back to Work."  She wore that shirt everywhere.  In 1993 Wayne and I went to Vermont where we found the perfect Christmas gift for her.  It was hand crafted in the United States.  We had it shipped home.  It was in a large box, and it would drive her crazy trying to figure out what it was.  When Christmas finally arrives, she ripped off the wrapping paper.  Everyone was waiting to find out what the mystery gift in the large box was.  When she opened the box, she started laughing and exclaimed, "They got me a cow."  There was a store in Vermont that had cow lawn decor.  The cow was a wood cutout, stuffed, covered with fake fur black and white cow spot fabric, that staked in the ground.  My mother had that goofy cow in her yard several years before it fell apart.  One of her neighbor's was always threatening to steal her cow.  One day, she looked out the window to see a stray dog having his way with her cow.  She was so upset, I thought she was going to have a cow (sorry, I couldn't help it).  Even though my mother died several years ago, I still find myself looking for products made in the USA.