Step 1

Mix starter, honey, salt, oil and water together in a mixer or by hand. I love my Danish dough whisk for this!

Step 2

Add flour in until you have a kneadable consistency that either A.) The dough doesn't stick to side of mixer bowl or B.) Dough doesn't stick to your hands when you knead it.

Step 3

Knead it for a few minutes then cover with a damp towel and choose your path for first rise depending on your schedule and weather. Warmth speeds up sourdough, cold slows it. This is all on counter unless specified

Step 4

Let the dough sit 12-18 hrs.

Step 5

Shape the dough and allow to rise a second time for 2-3hrs.

Step 6

Let the dough sit 4-6 hrs.

Step 7

Shape the dough and put it in the fridge to rise a second time for 12-18hrs.

Step 8

Take out an hour before baking. Our laundry room is fridge-ish temp so we put them back there. Before baking when I use this method, I put bread pans in oven, turn oven on for 2 min then turn it off. Let sit in warm oven an hour, take out, then preheat oven for baking. This is my current favourite method.

Step 9

Let the dough sit 6-8 hrs.

Step 10

Shape the dough and allow to rise a second time for 1-2 hrs.

Step 11

After your first rise, its time to shape! Dump your dough onto a floured surface.

Step 12

Press dough roughly into a 6x8inch rectangle, fold like a letter with long sides in, flip seam side down and let sit about 10 minutes. This is called a preshape/bench rest and makes your loaves taller!

Step 13

Prep your loaf pan by lining with parchment or greasing the pan.

Step 14

After the bench rest, flip seam side up, press into  rectangle again but this time roll it up, and tuck sides under to make a tidy loaf, then put into the loaf pan.

Step 15

Let rise for second rise depending on which path you choose.

Step 16

Preheat oven to 425F.

Step 17

Using your sharpest knife, slash the loaf by slicing a one inch deep line down the length of the bread. You can get artistic or just leave it at that. This allows the bread to expand and rise in the oven better.

Step 18

Put pan into oven and bake for 25 min, turn around and then bake 20 more.

Step 19

Remove bread from oven and put on a cooling rack. Remove from pan and let cool until around room temp. Its hard to wait but I promise its worth it! The bread is still finishing up baking as it cools.