Ingredients:

• 21.2 oz flour

• 14.8 to 16.9 oz water (the more water the harder the dough is to work with)

• 3.2 oz Starter

• 0.6 oz salt

• Rice flour for shaping and banneton

Instructions:

Day 1: Autolyze, Stretch and Fold, Bulk Ferment, Cold Ferment

1. Autolyze – Mix the flour and water in a bowl until combined then cover and let rest for 45 minutes to an hour.

2. Add Starter and salt to mixture. 

3. Stretch and folds - Leaving the bread in the bowl, stretch it up and fold it over onto itself.  Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat.  Tip:  wet hands slightly before handling dough to prevent sticking.  Do at least 4 stretch and folds at roughly 30 minutes apart.  Cover the bowl between stretch and folds.

4. Bulk Ferment – After the final stretch and fold, cover the dough and let rest on the counter.  Time is dependent on the temperature in the house, if it’s 70-80 it should take 4-6 hours, if it’s less than it will take longer.  I’ve found in the upper 60s will be about a 6-8 hour bulk ferment.  You can tell it’s ready when it has just doubled, the top of the dough is just starting to pull away from the sides of the bowl, and the top of the dough isn’t very sticky anymore. 

5. Shaping the Dough - Sprinkle some rice flour on a clean work surface (I usually use the counter).  Tip the dough out of the bowl, using a bowl scraper to get it all out.  Make sure the dough lands with the less sticky top side facing down and the sticky underside facing up. 

   Pull the edges of the dough up towards the middle to form a tight ball, then flip over so the sticky side is now on the counter. 

   Now slowly spin the dough while gently pushing the dough to create surface tension. 

6. Sprinkle rice flour in a banneton, and after the dough the shaped, flip it into the banneton with the seam side up.  Cover with a damp towel, plastic wrap, or even a plastic bag and place in the fridge for at least 12 hours up to 36 hours. 

Day 2: Bake

1. Preheat oven to 450.

2. Put a dutch oven or a heavy lidded pot that will fit the bread in the oven to heat for 1 hour (put it in empty, the goal here is to get it very hot)

3. Once pot is hot, take starter out of the fridge and tip out of banneton onto parchment paper (the side that was up should now be down).

4. Using a sharp blade cut the top of the bread, deep enough to allow for oven rise.

5. Using the parchment paper as a sling, lift the dough up and place in heated pot.  You may need to reopen the cut on the top of the bread if it squished during transfer. 

6. Cover the pot and put in oven for 30 minutes.

7. After 30 minutes take the cover off and bake for another 20 minutes or until golden brown. 

8. Once cooked, place on a cooling rack and let completely cool before cutting, about 90 minutes.