Ingredients
Dough
100g active, bubbly starter
325g warm water
470g bread flour
10g salt
Directions
In a large bowl add your warm water and starter. Mix together.
Add flour and salt into the starter mixture and mix to incorporate.
Combine everything as much as you can. To fully incorporate the dough wet your hands and use them. There should be no dry spots. Cover and let sit for 1hr. If you have a food thermometer I'd recommend using it to keep track of your dough for bulk fermentation.
Now that the dough has rested we're going to begin stretch and folds/coil folds (which ever you prefer). I normally do around 3-4 sets of folds but you should judge this based on the texture of your dough. If your dough looks like it needs an additional fold you can absolutely add more. Wet your hands and do a set of stretch and folds. Cover and let sit for 30 min. You will repeat this with every set of folds.
For the second set of folds you'll wet your hands again and do your folds. If you notice that your dough is pretty sticky that's ok just work it a little more when doing this step. This will help the dough strengthen up a bit. Cover and let sit for 30 min.
Again wet your hands and do a set a folds. With this third set of coil folds you should notice that the dough has a smoother consistency.
Now it's time to let the dough bulk fermenting on the counter. This process can take anywhere from 3hrs-12hrs (from the time you initially mixed all the ingredients) depending on multiple factors (temp being the primary factor). I would recommend looking at the @SoudoughJourneys chart for bulk fermenting. It's amazing and very helpful when trying to determine if your dough has fermented enough.
Some signs that'll let you know when your bulk fermentation is finished include - slightly domed top, large bubbles on the surface of the dough, the dough pulls away from sides easily, jiggles when you shake the bowl, and when it can pass a window pane test.
Once your bulk fermentation is completed turn the dough out onto the surface and start shaping the dough. Stretch the dough into a rectangle.
Then fold the left side into the middle and then the right side into the middle. Start from the bottom and roll the dough to the top.
Pinch all the sides together. If you want to make a batard shape you can finish your shaping now and move on to the next step. If you'd like the boule shape you'll want to turn the dough long ways facing you. Gently grab the top and push it into the bottom. It'll look like there's a split on the left and right side. Do a couple pull and tucks using your hands to shape the dough into a round boule.
Place your tea towel into your proofing basket and lightly flour. Sprinkle some flour on top of the dough and put it upside down into the proofing basket. For the batard shape go ahead and sprinkle some more flour on top, cover with the tea towel and move onto the next step. For a boule - once in the proofing basket gently pinch the sides so that you don't see the seam. Stitch the bottom and top together. Sprinkle flour over the top of the dough again.
Cover the dough and stick in the fridge to cold proof for 12-48 hours.
When you're ready to bake preheat the oven to 465 for an hour. Then cut a piece of parchment paper and turn the dough out onto it. At this point you can flour and score the dough how you'd like. Place the parchment paper into your dutch oven and throw a couple of ice cubes in the dutch oven put the lid on. Turn the oven down to 440 and bake for 35-40 min. Remove the lid and continue baking for 5-7 min or until the bread is to your desired color on the top. NOTE- if you have a loaf recipe that works well with your oven please feel free to use that. When it comes to cooking sourdough each oven is a little different so the times may be greater or lesser depending on your oven.*
Remove your bread from the oven and off of the parchment paper and place on a cooling rack. Let the bread cool for at least 2 hours.
Enjoy!
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