No Knead Sourdough Bread - Prep time 14 hours I start this an hour or so before I go to bed.
Cook Time 50 Minutes
Makes 1 large loaf
Ingredients:
1000 g. of flour
20 g. salt
150 g. Starter
750 g. water
Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.
2. In a separate mixing bowl Wisk together the sourdough starter and water, stirring until no bits of starter remain. This is where you can test your starter's strength by laying a spoonful of the starter on the measured water first. If the starter floats for a few seconds then your starter is good to go. If starter sinks you didn't wait long enough for the starter to fizz up.
3. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir (by hand or a wooden spoon is helpful here) until it just comes together. You don't want to see major dry spots, but don't worry about getting everything perfectly combined. It's okay for it to look shaggy and not smooth.
4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or reusable bowl cover and let it sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
5. After 1 hour, uncover the bowl and fold the dough over onto itself a few times. The best way to do this is to grab the dough with your hand (or use a dough scraper) starting at the top turn the bowl farthest from you, and pull it over onto itself towards the bottom of the bowl closest to you. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat, doing 4 folds in total.
6. Cover the bowl again and let it rest at room temperature overnight (aim 8-10 hours)
7. The next morning, After the overnight rise, scoop the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Using your hand or a dough scraper, repeat the four-time folding motion, shaping the dough into a ball as you go, tucking under side dough then leave it seam-side down. (I use my dough scraper to do this folding. That way the sticky dough doesn't stick to your hands. I don't add very much extra flour. Cover the dough lightly with a flour-dusted tea towel (or just a regular kitchen towel) and let it sit for 1 1/2 hours, or until puffy and almost doubled in size. (I let it rise in a bread proofing basket with a layer of parchment paper on the bottom sprinkled with flour before adding dough. This gives it it's shape. When it's done rising, I just drop the shaped dough and parchment into the warmed up dutch oven and bake).
8. About an hour before the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 450 degrees and place the dutch oven, lid on into the oven to heat up.
9, Carefully transfer the dough into a heated dutch oven. I leave the seam side down inside the parchment paper. Once risen, using a very sharp knife, or bread lame, slash the top of the loaf once, making a 1/2" cut down off center. (feel free to get fancier if you like!)
10. Cover the pot with the lid and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 20-30 minutes or until the crust is a deep golden brown all over. (Almost burnt where the slashed dough is). Flip out onto a rack to cool completely before slicing.
(It seems like I actually baked for the first 45 minutes with lid on, then pulled it off for last 5-10 minutes to brown - so you'll have to experiment. )
Good luck!
