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Feed all of your starter with 30g of strong white flour + 30g of water and stir it well
In your mixing bowl, mix the 50g of starter with the 350g of water
Next, add the 500g of strong white bread flour to the bowl, and 1 teaspoon/4g of salt
Mix it all together loosely, so that it’s pretty ragged but all the flour and water is mixed
Cover the bowl and leave it for an hour or so
After an hour, remove the cover, and start to lift and fold the dough to build up the structure in the dough.
Literally pick up a small handful of dough from one side of the bowl, lift it and fold it over the rest of the dough to the other side of the bowl. Then turn the bowl and repeat the process, do it about 20-25 times maximum, until its a smooth ball.
Please note: you will only need to perform this many pulls and folds on this first occasion; after this, far fewer pulls and folds will be required to pull the dough into a ball before covering and leaving it again. You do NOT need to perform 20-25 each time. At this point the dough will be at its stickiest, from this point it will become less sticky with each handling.
Over the next few hours, perform sets of the pulls and folds/lifting and folding actions 2 to 4 more times. These do not need to be done at fixed time periods apart, as long as you fit in sufficient sets during that time, that's the key. I aim for 4 sets in total. The dough will not be starting to grow at this stage.
Each time you perform these pulls and folds, stop when the dough comes into a ball, that is the dough telling you it has had enough handling at that stage.
Complete the final set, pulling the dough into a nice firm ball, then re cover the bowl, and leave it on the counter overnight. The ideal temperature for this is between 18C – 20C for 8-10 hours. If it is a lot colder than this, it will take longer, just give it a few more hours. If it is warmer it risks over proving, see my hints and tips and FAQs for assistance on how to prevent it.
Next morning, the dough should have really grown within the bowl, to at least double
Get your banneton out and sprinkle it with rice flour
Perform a final round of pulls and folds with the dough. perform a final round of pulls and folds with the dough, enough to bring it into a nice ball again, it should be bouncy and happy and you should be able to feel the structure in your dough. Do not worry about being heavy handed, and definitely do not be too gentle or nervous; if you have followed the steps and built up a good strong dough, you could sit on it and it would still bounce back amd bake well. So aim to create some tension in the dough so that it holds a ball on its own and sits proud on the middle of the bowl quite happily.
Lift and place the ball of dough, smooth side down into the banneton. Move the dough gently aside to be able to sprinkle rice flour down the sides of the dough. And ensure that you sprinkle some rice flour all over the top of the dough too to stop it from sticking to the parchment paper.
Cover it again with a shower cap/cover, and put it in the fridge for an absolute minimum of 3 hours, and up to 24 hours, the longer you leave it, the more the flavour will grow. I usually leave mine for an average of 10 hours. This means you can leave it there all day whilst you’re at work, or out for the day, and bake it on your return should you wish.
After this time, you can choose whether to bake from a preheated or cold start
If you choose to preheat: preheat the oven now to 220C/425F fan/230-240C/450F non fan
Remove the dough, in the banneton, from of the fridge once the oven is ready
Place the tin over the top of the banneton, then invert it/turn it all over together to turn the dough into the pot
You should now have a lovely dome of dough, that holds it shape, decorated with a pattern of concentric flour rings from the banneton
Score the top of the dough with a lame or a clean razor blade, put the lid on and bake it for 50 mins
To bake from a cold start: place the dough into the pan as above, score, put the lid on and place the pan into your cold oven. Turn the oven up to 220C/425F fan/230-240C/450F non fan and a timer on for 55 mins, leaving the lid on for the whole time. The time required in the oven starts from the point you place the pan into the cold oven and switch it on, not from the time the oven reaches the required temperature.
After the 50 or 55 minutes, remove the whole pan from the oven, carefully take the loaf from the pan, tilt it whilst still wearing your oven gloves to remove the parchment paper from the bottom, (and keep it to use again like I do) then leave the loaf on a rack to cool.
If after the required time, you prefer a darker loaf or you feel that yours look pale, you can remove the lid and bake for a further 5-10 mins; I prefer to keep the lid on for the entire bake as I like the colour I get.
Wait AT LEAST an hour before you slice into it. If you cut into the loaf too soon, it will still be cooking, and steam will fill all of those carefully crafted holes and make the bread gummy.
*Please note: if you preheat your oven you do NOT need to preheat the pot. If you are using a cast iron Dutch oven, or heavy pot of any kind, you still don’t need to preheat the pot. Bake as per below and if when you lift the lid, the loaf seems a bit pale or blonde, put it back in the oven for 5-10 mins to brown.