Step 1

Prepare the pre-ferments:

Step 2

The evening before you plan to bake, combine all the ingredients for the sourdough in a bowl starting with the wet ingredients. Mix well, cover, and leave to ferment at room temperature for 12-16 hours.

Step 4

Dissolve the yeast for the poolish in water. Mix with the flour, cover, and leave to ferment at room temperature for 14 hours.

Step 6

In a bowl, cover the seeds for the Quellstück with water. Leave in the fridge overnight.

Step 8

Prepare the main dough and leave it to rise:

Step 9

Drain any excess soaking liquid from the seeds.

Step 11

In a bowl, combine the sourdough, poolish, and the ingredients for the main dough. Mix well and knead gently until smooth, about 5 minutes. Incorporate the seeds and continue to knead the dough until you can pull it apart very thinly without tearing it. Be careful to not over-knead the dough as that can happen very quickly with mixed doughs. My dough had a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) after kneading because I store my flour in a cool spot and kneaded the dough very gently. Your dough temperature might be higher depending on your ambient temperature.

Step 13

Cover the kneaded dough and leave to rise in a warm spot for 1 hour.

Step 15

Shape, proof, and bake your bread:

Step 16

Preheat your oven with baking steel or stone inside to 250 °C (480 °F). Place a tray of water on the bottom of the oven to generate steam. Alternatively, you can also bake the loaf in a preheated Dutch oven.

Step 18

On a lightly floured work surface, form the bread into your desired shape. Make sure to give it enough tension so that it will hold its shape in the oven.

Step 20

Proof the bread at room temperature seam-side up in a proofing basket until it has puffed up nicely, about 50 minutes to 1 hour. Invert the proofed bread onto a wooden board.

Step 22

Score with one or a few shallow cuts and bake on your baking stone or steel for 20 minutes at 250 °C (480 °F). Make sure to generously spray your oven with water at the beginning of baking to enable the bread to rise further in the oven. After 20 minutes, remove the tray of water from the oven and reduced the heat to 210 °C (410 °F). Bake your bread for another 30-35 minutes or until browned to your liking. Leave to cool down completely before slicing it.