Enjoy fresh baked sourdough bread right from your oven. For this recipe you need the sourdough starter to have already been made. The ingredients are shown in weight and conventional measurement. Baking is a science and our bakers recommend weighing ingredients for the most accurate measurements. The results will be a fantastically sour, pillowy round of sourdough perfect for slicing and slathering in butter.

Preparation

Make the dough: Pour cool water into mixing bowl. Add bread flour, and mix dough in mixer using hook attachment until no bits of dry flour remain (about 3 minutes).

Let rest, or autolyze, in a cool place in the mixing bowl for 30 minutes. This will allow your flour to properly hydrate. Add sea salt and sourdough starter. Mix on medium speed until gluten forms, about 2-3 minutes. Dough should look smooth and feel elastic. Transfer dough to a glass bowl, cover with a towel and let rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Pull dough from container and transfer to a floured surface. Lightly dust dough with flour and work dough with your hands flattening the dough and pulling all four ends into the center press down once more and flip over and lay it back into the bowl to rest another 30 minutes . Retrieve from bowl work dough into a round using a dough scraper and your hand. Tension will build as the dough slightly anchors to the surface as you rotate it. By the end, the dough should have a taut smooth surface.

Dust tops of rounds with flour then cover with a towel to rest on the work surface for 30 minutes. Line a medium basket or bowl with a towel, generously dust with flour. Using dough scraper, flip and transfer round to basket with the floured/smooth side down and seam facing up. Cover again with a towel and place on the top shelf in fridge to slowly ferment and rise for 17 hours.

Bake bread: Retrieve round from fridge and allow to rest at room temperature for approximately 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 500ºF.

Set rack to lowest position, warm an 11” Dutch Oven or any heavy oven-proof pot with a tightly fitting lid for about 20 minutes. Cut a piece of parchment into a square at least twice the diameter of your round. Generously dust round with flour, then place round seam-side down onto the center of your parchment. Using the parchment, gently lower your round into heated Dutch oven. Using a razor blade or sharp knife, score the top of round about 1/4-inch deep to allow moisture to escape. This will help with presentation and the crumb.

Cover with lid and return to oven, and reduce oven temperature to 450ºF degrees. Bake for 20 minutes. Carefully remove lid, and bake an additional 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer round to cool on a wire rack. It will feel light and sound hollow when tapped. Allow to cool completely before slicing.