Ciabatta bread. Am I too impatient?

I have now made the 18 hour recipe about four times. The taste is great and the texture not bad but the bread is very heavy. It is like lifting a shot put. What am I doing wrong? Not using a breadmaker and being very careful to follow the instructions so don't know how to improve it

Have you a microwave . as as I have said if you start the one I have it will be ready this afternoon and it is light and soft

The reason why Ciabatta can turn out heavy could possibly be a result of using too much flour :-/ and/or possibly not allowing it enough time to triple in bulk - here's my recipe anyway, for what it's worth (it takes nearly 5 hours from start to finish) :

Sourdough Ciabatta

2 tsp yeast (Active yeast granules)
2 cups (280g) flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. Extra Light Olive Oil (or Extra Virgin if you want a stronger flavour)
1 cup sourdough starter (4-6 hours after last fed)
3/4 cup warm water (US measure - not sure what it equates to; I use a US measure cup, so don't know.

Place all ingredients in bread machine and select dough cycle.
When dough cycle complete, empty into lightly grease bowl, (Don't panic; it will be very soft - somewhere between a batter and a runny dough!) Cover with lightly greased/oiled plastic wrap - the Glad plastic covers are great for this - the reason for oiling the plastic wrap is so that it is easy to remove from the dough after it has risen)
Leave dough in a draught free place (I use hot water cupboard) and forget all about it for 2 - 2.5 hours until it has tripled in bulk (dough will be sticky and full of bubbles).
Before the 2 - 2.5 hours is up, pre-heat your oven to 250.C
Turn dough out onto floured baking tray (or lined baking tray - doesn't really matter!) Gently pat into shape with a floured dough scraper or something similar - DO NOT PUNCH DOWN! Be very gentle with the dough.
Sprinkle with four and make 3-4 slits on top (helps to release gas).
Spray the oven with water just before placing the dough in the oven.
Quickly close the door - (the water causes steam which aids in making a nice crust) - spray several times for the first few minutes of baking.
Turn oven temperature down to about 220'C and bake for about 15-20 minutes.

Edited to say: the trick to getting a light loaf with a holey crumb is:
a) using sourdough starter no later than 6 hours after last feed
b) allowing extra time for proving.

Maybe it is the way you are handling the dough after its final rise. Properly made Ciabatta dough is very soft, and when you transfer the risen loaves to a baking sheet you need to be very gentle and make sure you don't knock any of the air out.

recycling

I made the dough last night from a recipe here and it said to leave for 18 hours. After 12 hours mine is a bit dry in places,has risen a bit only and I really really want to knead it although the recipe gives the impression that you do not do this. Help please from all you experienced bread bakers

no need to knead I have a quick recipe that starts in breadmaker and in the microwave go onto search my recipe there under last year and active yeast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX_6l2bmvQI

Most likely this is the recipe you got from here this guy explains it very well. I make this quite often and it works very very well.