Actually, most people prefer an electric oven. Gas cooktops are fine
and many of the better ranges with a gas cooktop has an electric
oven. They both produce heat, and that is what is needed to bake the
bread. The quality of the thermostat is what controls the heat. I had
a Dacor oven in my previous house (my choice) and the thermostat was
German made. German's excel in accurate thermostats. That is what
make the Rowenta irons better---the accuracy of the thermostat.
The stove that was in this house when we bought it is still here. It
is a poor substitute for the Dacor. I have learned, by means of an
oven thermometer, that it runs about 20 degrees hot, so I try and
adjust the setting and then check the thermometer after the oven
cycles off. I'll probably not get another oven because it has one
advantage in that I can actually get 150 degrees in it by setting it
on "warm" and along with some other tricks, get the very best beef
roasts. My Dacor would not go below 170 degrees, and that was too
much heat for the meat's second step.
In our previous house in our previous city, I taught hands-on bread
classes and they were very successful. I do believe the ciabatta
bread requires more hydration, as others have said. More kneading is
not the secret. Then do use a pan of water on the shelf below. The
water should have been put in the oven when you first turned it on so
it is already hot. Then do allow the bread to rise to its fullest
extent---here is where experience helps, because if it raises too
much, it will fall during the oven spring. The bread ingredients are
not expensive, so if you have a failure or two, that is how you get
experience. I've had my share of failures, but I called them
"learning experiences". I bet even Peter Reinhart has a failure now
and then as he developes new recipes.
I am now a widow and so I bake very little bread. It's not as much
fun when I don't have an appreciative partner. I've found other
interesting things to take up my time.
Gloria Martin