Step 1

Autolyse

Step 2

Mix the flour and water together in a bowl, cover, and let sit for 1-2 hours.

Step 3

Mixing, Gluten Development, and Bulk Fermentation

Step 4

Add the sourdough starter, salt, and oil to the dough. Fold the dough over itself and press and stretch the dough to work in these ingredients. Pause if the dough starts to tear.

Step 5

Give the dough a few minutes of Rubaud mixing (video above) to strengthen and fully mix it. When the dough is smooth and uniform, cover and let it rest 30 minutes.

Step 6

Do four rounds of gluten development such as coil folding, with 30-minute rests in between. During the first round of folding, I transferred my dough to a straight-walled container to track the rise. Stretching and folding or coil folding work nicely on this dough. There is a video link after this recipe if you want to see gluten development techniques on an even wetter dough.

Step 7

Let the dough rise until it has expanded by 70-80%. For a warm dough (low 80s), this was about 5 hours after mixing in the sourdough starter. At cooler temps, this may take longer.

Step 8

If you'd like to retard the dough i.e. refrigerate it overnight before shaping, do this at about 60% dough expansion, and let the dough warm up again in the morning for about an hour before shaping.

Step 9

Shaping and Final Proof

Step 10

Prep a piece of parchment paper that is about the size of your baking stone or steel (an upside-down baking sheet can be used if you don't have a stone or steel, but beware of temp limits on non-stick sheets).

Step 11

Heavily flour your work surface and then gently scrape the dough out onto it.

Step 12

Use a bench knife to shove some of the flour under the oozing dough as you stretch the dough into a rectangle that's about 1 inch think. With your hands, lift and maneuver the dough to determine that none of it is stuck to your work surface. If it is, add more flour to your bench knife and work it underneath the dough.

Step 13

Heavily flour the top of your dough and then cut it into two long narrow strips.

Step 14

Sprinkle flour on the two cut surfaces and ensure they are not sticking to your work surface.

Step 15

With a bench knife and a dough scraper (spatula might work too), scoop up both ends of a dough and transfer it to the sheet of parchment paper. The dough will scrunch up but as you lay it down, you can stretch it out again like an accordion. Repeat with the other dough.

Step 16

Flour the tops of the doughs again and cover with a tea towel.

Step 17

Let proof for about 1 hour or longer if your dough is cool. My dough was in the low 80s.

Step 18

Baking

Step 19

Set up your oven with a baking stone or steel on the second-to-lowest shelf and a cast iron pan (for steam) on the highest possible shelf, likely the second from the top.

Step 20

Preheat this oven setup for about 45 minutes at 500F.

Step 21

When the final proof is complete, brush off any excess flour on the doughs, and slide the parchment paper onto a peel or baking sheet with open sides like this one or upside-down baking sheet.

Step 22

Boil 1 cup of water and set it near your oven.

Step 23

Load the doughs onto your baking stone. Wearing oven mitts to prevent steam burns, pour the boiling water into the cast iron pan and close the oven door.

Step 24

Bake for 10 minutes at 500F.

Step 25

Lower the oven temperature to 410F and bake for 20 minutes more.

Step 26

If you want a darker crust, feel free to bake longer.

Step 27

Turn off the oven, crack open the oven door, and leave the bread inside for another 10 minutes. This helps the crust get more crunchy.