What is the best method for stick-free cooking of bacon in a stainless steel pan?
First of all, it is difficult to get right. Don't be disappointed if you need some time to learn how to do it well. 

As for your method, there are two things in your description you can improve on. One is the fat. You need a lot of fat to fry in a stainless steel pan. The bacon grease is unreliable even if you have the rest of the process perfected, and makes it much more harder at the beginning. So adding fat will be a good place to start. And you probably need more than you think - at least 3 mm thick, better 5 (assuming we are talking thin slices of bacon and not cubes or slabs). 

The other thing is that you lowered the temperature. This was the wrong thing to do. You want a heating rate at which your bacon's proteins start shriveling up as soon as they hit the fat, as opposed to slowly gumming up against the bottom. This tends to be higher than most people first try, and certainly higher than the heat you can use with a nonstick. Sadly, you can also overshoot and have the bacon burn and stick at the same time - that's one of the major difficulties with getting it right, learning how to recognize if you are in the proper range of heat - but if in doubt, you probably have to go up rather than down. And preheat for a good long time before laying the first strip in. 

Another thing to consider is the bacon itself. Some brands are sweetened, and the sugars stick like crazy. They also burn at temperatures where the meat does just right. So, look at the ingredients, and if you notice any kind of sugar - could be fructose, corn syrup, maple syrup, or something else - choose another brand. Also get something which is packaged dry, these which are wet enough to have something marinade-like in the package will stick more.