Step 1

Prepare this levain the night before you plan to make the bread.

Step 2

Take 35 grams of your sourdough starter and mix it with the flour and water.

Step 3

Let it sit in a covered container overnight to ferment and grow.

Step 4

Place the water and levain into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook and give it a little mix.

Step 5

Add all of the remaining ingredients together and let the dough knead for 10 minutes on a medium to low speed. On my Ankarsum mixer that is speed 3.

Step 6

After 10 minutes let the dough rest in the mixer for 15 minutes.

Step 7

After 15 minutes turn the mixer on again for about 20 seconds. This will replace the traditional hand folding of the dough. Repeat this step 3 more times with 15 minutes of rest in between each.

Step 8

Transfer the dough to a straight-sided container and let it rise until it has grown in volume by 50%. A rise of 50% doesn't mean doubled in size, it means half that.

Step 9

After the dough has risen, flour the top slightly and dump it out onto a clean surface.

Step 10

Pre-shape the dough by forming it into a tight ball, dust the top slightly with a bit of flour, flip it upside down so that the smooth side is on your counter and then cover and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Step 11

After 15 minutes, form the dough tightly so that it fits nicely inside a 1lb bread loaf pan. I like to line my pans with parchment paper first.

Step 12

Set the dough aside again to rise until the dough has just reached the top rim of the loaf pan.

Step 13

Do not score this bread before placing it into the oven!

Step 14

Get a second loaf pan of the same size and rest it upside down directly on top of the pan housing your bread loaf to create a faux lid.

Step 15

Place the bread into a pre-heat 350F oven and bake the bread for 20 minutes.

Step 16

After 20 minutes remove the upper bread pan that was acting like a lid and score the top of the dough straight down the middle.

Step 17

Return the dough to the oven and this time continue to bake the bread for 40 minutes uncovered.

Step 18

Feel free to brush the top of the loaf with butter as it comes out of the oven and then let the bread rest and cool before slicing.