275g mature active starter

700-750g warm water (80-85F) (depending on how soft you want your loaf, I like it soft so I usually
do at least 750g)
1000 grams of our. (I like to use half all purpose and half bread our. All purpose makes a really soft
loaf and holds a lot of moisture while bread our gives great avor and nice gluten structure)
20 grams salt

I neglect my starter. I leave it in the fridge until the night before I want to make bread, then I pull it
out, discard everything from the jar just leaving the scraping and I feed my starter with 150 grams of
our and 150 grams of water, mixed well, and then leave it on the counter overnight. If you follow
this feeding amount you can use all your starter for the loaf.

The most important part is using the starter at peak activity. I recommend feeding your starter the
night before and leaving it on the counter. The next morning it should have at least doubled in size,
be super bubbly, smell slightly sweet and not alcoholic. If it smells of alcohol, the yeast has
consumed all sugars and is past its prime, too acidic and will mess with the rising process if you use
it. I recommend feeding the starter again timing it to when you’d like to make your loaf. If your
starter is getting too acidic too fast add more our and water when you feed it and try to discard as
much of the starter as you can before feeding. More starter in the mix will make it ferment faster.

Combine active starter and water, mix well. Add our and salt on top, mix until well combined and
let sit for 20-30 mins to let their our absorb the water (At this point I feed my starter again with the
above measurements and throw it back in the fridge to be ignored until I want bread again, usually a
week. I wouldn’t go without feeding the starter for more than 2 weeks). Knead the dough (I use the
slap and fold technique, look it up on YouTube, I recommend keeping your hands slightly wet with
cold water for this process if it’s too sticky) for 20ish minutes until smoother, and it comes together
in a ball. It will still be sticky. Rest in a bowl covered with a wet towel. You’ll want to knead (5-10
mins) and rest (30-45 mins) the dough until it can pass the “window pane” test, that is to be
stretched thinly so that light can be seen through the dough without it tearing.

Once it is the right texture, let it rest to complete its bulk fermentation in a bowl covered with a wet
towel. The dough will increase in size over the next few hours. Depending on how warm the kitchen
is and how active the starter was this part can take 2-5 hours. Once it’s increased in size by at least
30% (lots of folks wait until it is doubled, I think letting it ferment too much can a ect how much it
rises in the oven, it still needs some sugar to process in the oven to rise so don’t let it overproof too
much) dump it out onto the counter, cut the dough in half and relax it on the counter for 20 minutes.

Next is the shaping process. Prepare a part of the counter with rice our, and ip the dough onto the
our so only one side is touching the our. You’ll probably want to look up a shaping process on
YouTube. You’ll do two letter folds on the dough (folding in the sticky sides leaving the oured side
outside of the ball) and then roll it up and stitch it together (once again look this up on a video). All of
this is with the goal of not breaking the skin of the bread but making the skin very tight. Once that is
done, tip the bread into a rice our coated basket or bowl lined with a towel, the stitches on
underside of the bread should be facing up, so the top of the bread is in the bowl. Generously our
the load, especially the sides so as it rises it won’t stick to the basket or towel. Cover with a bowl or
plastic bag so the skin of the loaf doesn’t dry out. Preheat your oven to 450 or 475, hotter is better
but make sure you have a Dutch oven that can handle 475 if that’s the temp you use. Throw your
Dutch oven in the oven to preheat as well. Final proof of the bread should take 1-2 hours.

I like to shake the basket and when the bread is jiggly and bubbly I know it’s ready to cook. I cook
one loaf at a time so I try to put the rst one in a little before it’s fully proofed so the second loaf
doesn’t overproof too much. When the rst loaf is ready, pull out the Dutch oven. I typically use a
piece of parchment or wax paper to tip the bread out of the basket onto. Quickly tip the bread out
and score the top (look up score patterns, I do recommend a basic x as this will allow the loaf to rise
a lot. This can be done with a well oiled, sharp knife if you don’t have a lame). Pick up the
parchment /wax paper and transfer the loaf into the Dutch oven. Cover and slide into the oven to
bake for 25 mins. After 25 mins take the lid o the Dutch oven (put the lid back in the oven so it
stays hot) and return the bread to the oven for 20 mins until the loaf is golden. Remove from the
oven and place on a wire rack to cool. The loaf should have a nice thump and will even crackle a bit
when it’s left to cool. Let it rest for at least 30 mins before cutting to let the crumb set.

Tip the second loaf out of the basket onto parchment paper, score and put into the Dutch oven.
Cover, bake for 25 mins, remove the cover and return bread to oven for 20 more mins. When done
set on rack to cool :) the rst loaf should be ready to cut into now if you want.

The sourdough bread is great sliced and stored in the freezer. If it will be consumed in a few days,
you can leave it on the counter. Spray with water and reheat in the oven to soften if it’s stale.