The Night before or in the early morning

Feed your starter about 6 – 8 hours before you want to start the dough process. Let sit in a cool place.

Note: This is called autolyze and will help develop some incredible flavor. Most recipes call for a couple of hours, but my friend Erin @brooklynsourdough taught me recently to have a very long autolyze. She mixes the flour and water at the same time as she feeds her starter the final feeding.

When your starter has doubled or more and is bubbly. It may look like it has fallen in on itself. That is ok too. Measure out 150 grams and add it to the flour mixture.

Using your hands to really get in there and mix it to thoroughly combine.

Sprinkle the sea salt over the rough dough, and with your hands again, squeeze with your fingers and mash it until you can feel the salt crystals have dissolved. This may take a couple of minutes. You do not need to actually knead the dough; just make sure it has been thoroughly mixed. Lift an edge and pull the dough over to the other side. Turn a quarter and repeat three more times to start to form a ball. All you need to do is once for now.

Scrape down the sides of whatever container you are using and cover with a lid or plastic wrap.

Let rest for 30 minutes or so. You can extend this to 45 to 50 if your schedule needs it.

Uncover the bowl and grasp one edge of the rested dough. Grab one edge and pull up and stretch out the dough several inches above the surface. Bring the dough over and push it down towards the further edge. Turn the bowl ¼ and repeat, stretching the dough again. Continue this until you have come full circle. The dough should have gathered into a rough ball.

Cover again and let rest for another 30 minutes.

Repeat the folding process 3 more times. Each time the ball of dough will start out looking very flat and loose. But it will tighten more and more with each fold. The final time the ball of dough will look very smooth, and the dough will have a lot of elasticity. It will gather into a nice tight ball.

Let the dough rest and rise until more than doubled with large bubbles very visible. It will take 5-6 hours in total from the first mix with the starter and the salt.

Have 2 round baskets lined with clean tea towels ready. You can sprinkle some flour over them. If you shape firmly enough, you will find that you don’t need very much at all. Or you can buy baskets with linen liners. See whattomunch.com for a link.

If you are making focaccia or pizza as part, or all of the dough. Lightly sprinkle some olive oil into plastic bags big enough to hold the balls of dough.

Scrape the bread dough onto a floured work surface.

Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Roughly gather them each into a ball and let rest for 10 – 15 minutes. Or you can divide the dough into 1 ball for a boule and one for focaccia or divide it into 4 balls to make pizza. Or any combination.

Using a dough scraper, pull the dough toward you onto a clean surface area. Using the tension and a slight circular motion continue to turn the ball until it forms into a tight ball. You should see many bubbles underneath the surface.

Turn the dough, smooth side down into one of the prepared baskets. Pinch together the dough if there are and ragged surfaces. Or place the balls into the oiled plastic bags.

Repeat with the second ball of dough.

Sprinkle a little flour over the tops of each loaf.

Cover with plastic wrap.

Let sit in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours. I have found the best for sour flavor is in the 36-hour area. But it all depends on your need and timing. To get the fantastic blisters, it needs to retard for at least 24 hours or longer.

Cut 2 parchment paper rounds approximately 12 inches across. Thoroughly crumple and wet under a running faucet. Place one down on a work surface smooth it out. Or you can use a turntable, which will make slashing it easier if you want to be fancy.

Unmold one of the loaves onto the center of the wet parchment paper.

Quickly slash the loaf.

Using oven mitts, carefully remove one of the dutch ovens and place it on a heatproof surface.

Lift the slashed loaf by the parchment paper and carefully place it into the hot dutch oven. Using an oven mitt, Immediately place the hot lid on to the filled dutch oven and put it into the hot oven.

Quickly repeat with the second loaf.

Bake covered in the oven for 20 minutes.

Uncover the dutch ovens and bake for an additional 20 – 25 minutes. The bread should be deeply golden and sound hollow when tapped. Unmold onto a rack and remove the parchment paper.

Let cool completely before slicing if you can wait that long. It will slice easier.