Step 1

Soak The CranberriesThis step is optional, but it really gives the bread so much more flavor! Add the juice of an orange to a small bowl and add the dried cranberries. Allow them to soak until it's time to add them to the bread dough.If you don't want to soak the cranberries, you can add them dried.

Step 2

Autolyse - Premixing The DoughWeigh out your sourdough starter and water into a large ceramic or glass bowl. Mix the water and starter together briefly.

Step 3

Now add the honey and orange zest and stir to combine with the water and the starter.

Step 4

Then add your flour and salt and mix whole lot together to form a shaggy dough. I find a dough scraper the easiest way to mix it as you can keep the sides of bowl clean.

Step 5

Cover your bowl with cling film or a damp tea towel and let it sit for around 1 hour.

Step 6

Forming Up The DoughAfter the dough has been through autolyse you need to bring it together into a ball. Work your way around the bowl, grabbing the dough from the outside, stretching it up and over itself, into the centre, until a smooth ball is formed. You shouldn't need more than about 20-25 stretches to form the ball.You'll notice that the dough is fully hydrated after soaking all the water up. It will be fairly sticky but as you bring it into a ball, it will become smoother and shinier.

Step 7

Once the dough has formed into a smooth ball, pop the cling film back on and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Step 8

Stretch & Fold + Adding the CranberriesOver the next few hours you need to create some structure for your dough by "stretching and folding", as well as incorporating the cranberries.**if you soaked the cranberries in orange juice, drain off as much liquid as you can before you add them to the dough. The liquid can be discarded**For each set, stretch the dough up and over itself 4 times. Leave around 15 minutes in between each set. Again you do not have to be exact with time, but you need to do at least 4 sets over 2 hours.Add the cranberries around the 2nd or 3rd set of stretch and folds. Just add a handful of cranberries to the dough for each stretch and fold. They will become incorporated over the next few hours (see notes for alternative method).Aim to do around 4-6 sets of stretches and folds.

Step 9

Bulk FermentOnce you've finished your stretch and folds, place the cling film or damp tea towel back over your dough and let it rest and ferment. See notes below for more info on this step.

Step 10

Shaping The DoughOnce your dough has finished it's first ferment, it's time to shape it into either a boule or a batard. You'll find full shaping instructions for a batard here and a boule here.

Step 11

Placing Into A BannetonOnce the dough is shaped into a tight ball, place it into your banneton smooth side down, so your seam is on the top - this way the top of your dough will get the pretty lines from the banneton. If you're using a cloth or tea towel in a bowl it's ok to put your dough with the smooth side up. Just make sure the dough is tight.Lift your dough around the edges to pop a little more rice flour if you feel it needs it. Just try to handle the dough as little as possible and be really gentle as you really want to preserve all the gases and air bubbles that have formed during your bulk ferment. If you don't have rice flour, corn meal works really well with this dough.

Step 12

Cold FermentNow the dough is in its "shaping container" cover it loosely with a plastic bag or damp tea towel and place into the fridge. I use a large plastic bag to cover it - I just reuse it each time. Try to leave it in the fridge for a minimum 5 hours.

Step 13

Preparing To BakeOnce you're ready to bake your sourdough, you'll need to preheat your oven to 230C/450F. Place your Dutch Oven into the oven when you turn it on so it gets hot. Try to preheat for around 1 hour to ensure your oven is super hot - but you know your oven so just adjust this time if you need to.Leave your dough in the fridge until the very last minute - placing a cold dough into a hot oven will give you a great "spring".

Step 14

Bake Time!Now it's time to bake!When your oven is at temperature, take your sourdough out of the fridge. Gently place it onto a piece of baking paper. Make sure that you make the baking paper big enough to use the edges as a handle to lower to dough into your Dutch Oven.Gently score your bread with a lame, clean razor blade or knife. At minimum a large cross is sufficient, but you can get as artistic as you like. Try to score it fairly deep to ensure the dough opens up.Carefully take your dutch oven out of the oven. Place the sourdough into the pot using the baking paper as a handle. Put the lid on and place into the hot oven. If you want to you can spritz your dough with extra water before you put the lid on.BAKE TIME:30 Minutes with the lid on at 230C/450F plus10-15 Minutes with the lid off at 210C/410F

Step 15

Finishing The BakeWhen you remove your dough from the oven, carefully remove it from the dutch oven as soon as possible and place on a wire rack to cool.