Steps

  1. 8 am: Twelve hours before mixing your dough, feed your sourdough starter, leaving it out on the counter making sure it doubles in size within 6 hours. (See notes for extra sour). OR, if you keep your starter in the fridge and fed it in the last 7 days- it is OK to use it straight from the jar, cold, without feeding. Best to use starter after it peaks, when it is “hungry”.
  2. 8 pm: Weigh the flour in a medium bowl (***zero-ing out the weight of the bowl). Then add salt, spices, and seeds. Mix starter and water in a small bowl until cloudy and well mixed. Pour the starter-water into flour, incorporating all the flour using a fork. It should be a thick, shaggy, heavy, sticky dough. See video. Mix for about 1-2 minutes using a wood spoon- it will be hard to mix. Don’t worry about tidy dough here, just get the flour all mixed in, cover with a wet kitchen towel, and let rest 15 minutes. It will loosen up as it rests.
  3. 8:20 pm: Do the first set of stretches and folds. With one wet hand (put a bowl of water next to you) pull the dough from one side and stretch it upward, then fold it up and over to the center of the dough. Quarter turn the bowl and repeat, stretching up and folding it over the middle, repeat for about 30 seconds or until the dough gets firm and resists. This helps strengthen the gluten. Cover, rest, and repeat the process 15 minutes later. With wet fingers, stretch up and fold over, turning, repeating, for 30 seconds until the dough gets firm and resists. Then turn the dough over in the bowl.
  4. 8:35 pm: Proof overnight, at room temp. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, wax wrap, or a damp kitchen towel (to keep the moisture in) and place it on your kitchen counter for 8-12 hours. (see notes on temperature) 68-70F is the ideal temp. (If it is warmer, check at 6-8 hours. If it is very cold, it may take up to 18 hours in winter.)
  5. 6-8 AM: Check the dough in the morning. The dough should have expanded, with a slight springy dome to the top. It won’t necessarily double in size ( maybe 1.5 -1.75 times bigger) but will have expanded. Do the POKE TEST: With a floured finger, poke into the dough. If it indents easily and mostly springs back to its original shape, it has probably risen enough. If it feels firm or very hard to indent, let it rise longer. If it feels loose, runny, or indents too easily or doesn’t spring back, it is most likely over-proofed (bake it anyway).
  6. Line a high-sided bowl with parchment. This brand of parchment does not stick to the bread- but if you are unsure about yours, spray oil your parchment lightly before putting the dough in it. (If you are a seasoned bread baker, you do not actually need parchment -this is only for easier transport, bread will not stick to the inside of a Dutch oven.) I like using a high-sided medium-sized bowl versus a flat or shallow bowl to help shore up the sides.
  7. 6-8 AM: 2nd Set of STRETCH and SHAPE : (Watch 2nd video -Stretch and Shape video). Loosen the dough from all edges of a bowl using your wet fingers, a wet spatula, or a wet plastic dough scraper, sliding down the sides of the bowl. With both wet hands, carefully pull the dough straight up, in the middle and lift it, stretching straight up in the air- about 1-2 feet (see photo) and place it back down, gently folding it on top of itself. In this first stretch, the dough may feel quite loose and runny. This is OK. It should firm up as it stretches and folds. (Note: If your dough breaks here, it is probably over-proofed, bake it anyway. If your dough won’t stretch like the photo and feels too tight or firm, it needs to proof longer). After the first stretch, give the bowl a quarter turn, wait 30-60 seconds, wet your hands again and stretch it up high again, folding over itself in the bowl. Wait 30-60 seconds. (You could repeat this one more time, 15 minutes later). Then, the third time you lift and stretch, you will lift it all the way into your parchment-lined bowl, folding over itself like you’ve been doing.
  8. FINAL RISE and PREHEAT OVEN: Place the bowl in the refrigerator for one hour uncovered which will firm up the bread, and make scoring easier and help boost “oven spring”. It won’t rise in the fridge. (You could also keep it in the fridge for 3-4 hours if you want to bake later.) Preheat the oven (for 1 FULL hour) to 500F with your dutch oven inside and lid on (see notes). If you have convection- use it. You can also bake the bread at 450F or 475F. You want your oven as hot as possible so don’t skimp on the preheat. I usually preheat for 1 full hour.
  9. SCORE & BAKE: When ready to bake, place the dough by the stove. Pull out the Dutch oven, close the oven, and remove the lid. Score the bread in the bowl, using a very sharp knife, lame, razor blade, (or try scissors dipped in cold water), score the dough swiftly and deeply, at a 45-degree angle, 3/4- 1-inch deep. One deep slash is just fine. Or criss-cross, or crescent shape. (Or feel free to add other designs, for ideas -google “scoring bread”). You want to score where you want the dough to puff out from. You can also cut with wet kitchen scissors. Carefully lift the parchment by the corners and place both bread and parchment directly into the Dutch oven. Cover quickly. It is OK if parchment peaks out. You want to score and transfer as quickly as possible.
  10. BAKE: Place the Dutch oven in the middle of the 500°F oven for 20 minutes with convection on, or 25 minutes without convection (or 28 minutes at 450°F). Remove lid. It should be puffed and just lightly golden, and the internal temperature should be close to 200°F (if not, put the lid back on for a few more minutes). Once it’s 200°F, lower the heat to 450°F, and bake uncovered for 10-15 minutes until deeply golden and the internal temperature reaches 204-208°F. No pale loaves please, let them get golden!
  11. COOL: It will smell heavenly. Remove from the dutch oven, let it cool 1 hour on a rack or tilted up on its side, before slicing so you don’t let the steam out and don’t smash it- be patient. This is the hardest part.
  12. SERVE: This type of bread is always BEST, served toasted! Then lather it with butter, ghee or olive oil.
  13. STORE: Store the bread wrapped in a kitchen towel for the first day or two to keep the crust nice and crispy, then move it to a zip-lock bag or waxed bread bag to keep it moist for longer.