• Mix flour and water together to form a shaggy mass. Cover and let sit for 45 mins in a warm place.
• Add the starter (use starter straight from your jar in the cupboard, before you feed the starter for the day) and salt into the dough by squeezing the mixture, finish with the stretch and fold technique.
• Perform a stretch and fold around every 30 minutes for the next 2 hours until you feel the dough has developed a nice gluten structure.
• Let the dough sit for 4 to 6 hours until it has risen by 30% – I do not worry too much about the % it has risen as long as I have left it bulk raise for a minimum of 4 hours it works (this process depends on the room temp listed above so use your intuition and just give it a go!)
• Once you are satisfied with your bulk rise, remove the dough onto a floured surface and pre-shape your loaf into a round shape.
• Bench Rest – Let the reshaped loaf bench rest for 30 minutes.
• Give your loaf a final shaping and place it in the proofing basket. I use a salad bowl lined with a well floured cotton cloth or teatowel.
• Place your proofing basket in a plastic bag (or cover with plastic wrap) and put it the fridge to proof overnight. When proofing in the fridge, you can leave it in there for 12-20 hours until baking.

Baking the Bread

• Place your dutch oven pan in the oven at 260 °C and preheat for at least 45 minutes.
• Remove proofed loaf onto parchment paper, score top of loaf and place directly into the preheated dutch oven, bake for 20 minutes with the lid on. Turn the oven down to 230 °C, remove the lid on the dutch oven and continue bake for 20-30 minutes with lid off.
• Let the loaf cool completely before cutting.