Sourdough, Bakers

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Mix starter into water. Add flours, and salt, and thoroughly mix everything together to form a shaggy dough. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover with plastic and chill in the freezer for half an hour.

Transfer the chilled dough to a stand mixer and beat with dough hook for 5 minutes. Transfer the dough to a medium sized bowl and begin a series of five sets of stretches and folds. The first three sets 15 minutes apart, and the last two sets 30 minutes apart. After the final set, move the dough to the counter to rest for 10 minutes, then shape it, and let it rest again for 10 more minutes. Shape one more time, then transfer to a proofing basket or bowl lined with parchment paper. Conver the dough and let it continue rising until it has clearly doubled in size (around 2-3 hours), but rise times can vary wildly depending on temperature and the vitality of the starter. Transfer the dough to the fridge until the next day. Optionally, let the dough continue rising for another hour or two, then proceed with baking. Here's a rough schedule:

1. 0:00 - make dough, chill in freezer
2. 0:25 - knead in stand mixer
3. 0:30 - set 1
4. 0:45 - set 2
5. 1:00 - set 3
6. 1:30 - set 4
7. 2:00 - set 5, rest on counter
8. 2:10 - shape, rest on counter
9. 2:20 - shape, transfer to proofing basket
10. 4:00 - refrigerate
11. 5:00 - bake (if not refrigerating)

Preheat the oven to 450 for at least 30 minutes, along with whatever kind of bread oven you're using. When ready, remove the dough from the fridge, score it, drop a couple ice cubes into the pan, place the dough in the pan, close the lid, and put in the oven. After 20 minutes, remove the lid, then continue baking for another 20 minutes. After a total of 40 minutes or so, or when the bread has browned, remove the pan from the oven, and then transfer the bread to a cooling rack. Let the bread cool for at least 1.5 hours before slicing.

The bread is much easier to slice the next day.