Mix mother starter, bread flour and water in a bowl. Work the dough a bit with your hands or a spatula.

Once the ingredients are mixed, keep working the dough with your spatula, or hands, for about 1 minute.

Cover bowl with a towel or plastic wrap.

Let it rest on your counter for about 4 hours.

Place it in the refrigerator overnight.

Remove starter from the fridge one hour before you are going to make your bread dough, so it comes to room temperature.

Add flour, salt, and water to the starter.

Knead the dough by hand for 5 minutes. Let it rest on top of the counter for about 5 minutes to relax the gluten. Get back to kneading for about 5 more minutes. If you want to use a dough hook in a stand mixer, you may, but I recommend just using your hands, so you can get a good feel of the dough. You can use a plastic scraper like the one I mention on the post above, to help you transfer the dough from one place to another.

In the final 2 minutes of kneading, add jalapeño pepper and cheddar cheese to dough.

At this point, dough should feel wet, but not very sticky. If it’s extremely sticky, you might want to add one or two tablespoons of flour and knead for another couple minutes.

Transfer dough to a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap.

Let it rest on top of the counter for about 4 hours, until it’s almost doubled in size.

Remove dough from the bowl and divide it into two equal parts (or more if you want to make rolls).

Shape each half into whatever shape you are going for.

If you are going for a boule (the round loaf) simply grab both of your hands and place them on top of your loaf, then, proceed to apply minimal pressure at the same time as you bring some of the dough to each side and tuck them under the dough, trying to make a ball shape. Do this a couple times, as you rotate the dough.

If you are going for a batard, or a baguette shape, simply make a rectangle with your dough, then bring each end from the longest side together in the middle. Tuck ends under to taper the torpedo, or baguette shape you are intending to make.

Place both pieces of dough in bannetons, or proofing bowls, that have been dusted with flour. Or you can even let the dough rise free standing in a baking sheet, just make sure to dust the baking sheet with semolina or cornmeal, since you’ll probably just bake the dough in that same baking sheet.

Remember to place each dough in one baking sheet, because they will rise and expand.

Cover dough with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

The next day, when you’re ready to bake, remove dough from refrigerator an hour before you start to bake it.

Pre-heat oven to 500F.

If I am baking a boule shaped dough, I like to bake it in a cast iron or dutch oven with a lid. Place your bread in there and cover it with a tight lid. Once the bread starts to bake at a high temperature in the closed pan, it will create a lot of steam inside that will help the bread develop a beautiful crust.

If you don’t have one of those, fret not. Simply bake your loaf in a baking sheet. You may place a cake pan inside your oven to create a steamer, and pour some hot water in this pan when you place your loaves in the oven.

Don’t forget to score your bread before baking it.

As soon as you put the loaf in the oven, turn the temperature down to 450F.

If you have a steam pan inside the oven to help you create steam, pour some hot water in it as soon as you place the bread in the oven.

For free standing baking: Bake it for 10 minutes. Rotate pan. Bake for another 10-20 minutes.

For cast iron baking: Bake for 20 minutes with cast iron lid on. Remove lid and bake for another 10-20 minutes.

Bread’s internal temperature should read about 200F.

They should look golden brown on the outside and sound hollow if you tap their bottoms.

Let bread cool before slicing it.