How can I achieve large bubbles in my bread? No matter what I do, my recipe produces bread that is pretty dense, I get none of those nice huge holes in the crumb. My recipe goes like this:


500g flour (300g wheat, 200g rye)
350ml water
2 tbsp vinegar
two pinches of salt
I use 1 packet of dry active yeast (for 500g of flour) or fresh yeast (20g)


I typically use my my stand mixer w/ dough hook to mix this for about 5-10 minutes. Then let it proof for 20 minutes, flatten and let rise for another hour. Then I bake the bread starting at 260 celsius for the first ten minutes, then decreasing to 200-200 until finished. I create steam at the beginning by pouring hot water on a baking tray.

What could possible be wrong with my recipe that prevents me from getting crumb like this? Is that only achievable with sourdough starter? I experimented with that for a while and my results were a little bit better, but not quite where I want to be.
In order to get large bubbles like you see in a Ciabatta you want to knead your bread as little as possible. Literally I mean knead it till just smooth but no longer. You really don't want to stretch any of the gluten. The more you stretch it the stronger it gets which is not what you want when trying to create nice UN-even air pockets.

On top of this, you DO NOT want to be knocking it back at all. I tend to prove my Ciabatta style bread on what ever I intend on cooking it on. That way I don't risk over handling it. 

Also you want to let it gently prove, at room temperature. No hot box or heat lamps at all.