Step 1

In a bowl, whisk the dry ingredients, then add the water and sourdough starter and mix thoroughly. Transfer the dough to a straightwalled container if you want to easily track the dough expansion.

Step 2

Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes. Do two rounds of stretching and folding with a 30 minute break in between.

Step 3

Let the dough rise for a couple of hours and then refrigerate it overnight OR let the dough fully rise at room temperature. The target dough expansion is around 75%. If the dough doesn't reach this degree of fermentation in the refrigerator, bring it out to room temperature and let it warm up and continue to rise.

Step 4

About 30 minutes before the end of the bulk fermentation, begin preheating your oven and baking vessel to 500F.

Step 5

Scrape the dough out onto a floured work surface. Lightly flour the top of the dough and gently pat it into a square.

Step 6

The dough is very soft and a bench knife and gentle hands are helpful in shaping it. First letter or "tri" fold" the square, which will result in a long rectangle. Join the short ends of the rectangle together in the center, which makes a square-ish boule. At this point, you can pinch the ends for a round loaf, or you can pinch and stretch the ends a bit to make an oval or batard shape. If the dough sticks or gets mangled, you can repeat the process as needed.

Step 7

Flip the dough onto it's seam, score it, and load it into your preheated baking vessel.

Step 8

Bake for 20 minutes at 500F, then remove the lid of your vessel and bake an additional 15 minutes at 450F or until the internal temperature of the bread is over 205F.

Step 9

Let the bread cool several hours before cutting.