Sourdough Bread

Method

1. ferment300 min
   warm, 24-26°C, covered
   20 g mature starter + 40 g of the flour + 40 g of the water = levain. Use it when it has domed, smells of yogurt rather than vinegar, and a spoonful floats — the float is trapped gas, the only honest proof the culture is at peak. Past peak the sugars are spent, the pH has dropped, and bacterial proteases start cutting the gluten you have not built yet
2. mix45 min
   room temperature, covered
   remaining flour + whole wheat flour + remaining water, mixed only until no dry flour remains, then left alone = autolyse. Time does the kneading: water hydrates the starch and lets gluten chains find each other unaided. Salt stays out because it tightens the network and slows the enzymes that are softening the bran
3. knead15 min
   wet hands, on the bench or in the bowl
   + levain + salt, pinched through and slap-folded until the dough stops tearing and pulls back on itself in one piece. It should feel tacky, not sticky — sticky means the gluten has not caught up yet, and more flour is not the answer
4. fold120 min
   26°C, four sets 30 minutes apart
   lift one side, stretch until it resists, fold it over the centre; quarter-turn and repeat. Each set re-tensions the gluten and redistributes the gas the yeast has made, so the dough builds strength without degassing. By the last set it should hold a smooth domed top when gathered
5. rest90 min
   26°C, covered, undisturbed
   bulk fermentation to the finish: the dough is done when it has risen 70%, wobbles as one mass, and shows bubbles at the edge of the container. Judge volume, not the clock — a 4°C drop in the kitchen roughly doubles this time. Overshoot and the protease damage becomes visible: the dough tears instead of stretching and spreads flat on the bench
6. fold20 min
   lightly floured bench, 20 minute bench rest between shapes
   preshape into a loose round, rest until it relaxes and spreads slightly, then shape tight — fold the edges to the centre and drag the seam along the bench to build surface tension. Into a basket dusted with rice flour, seam up. Rice flour has no gluten, so it cannot hydrate into paste and glue the loaf into the cloth
7. proof720 min
   4°C, covered, uncovered last hour optional
   cold retard overnight. Chilling slows the yeast much harder than the acid-producing bacteria, so flavour keeps developing while the rise nearly stops — the loaf cannot over-proof out of your reach. It also firms the surface so it takes a clean score, and a cold dough entering a hot oven spends longer in the expanding window before the crust sets
8. score5 min
   straight out of the fridge
   turn the cold loaf out onto parchment and cut one decisive 1 cm-deep arc with a blade. The score is a controlled weak point: without it the crust splits wherever it is thinnest, usually at the base
9. bake45 min
   covered pot preheated 250°C for 20 min, then uncovered 230°C for 25 min
   the lid traps the loaf's own steam, which keeps the skin pliable and gelatinises the surface starch so it can stretch through oven spring; lift the lid too early and the crust sets while the interior is still expanding, capping the rise. Uncovered, that same gelatinised layer dries and browns to glass. Done at a deep mahogany and a hollow thump — internal 96-99°C
10. rest55 min
    on a wire rack, never on a plate
    cool until barely warm before cutting. The crumb is still setting: starch that gelatinised in the oven is retrograding into a structure, and slicing early lets the steam that holds it out in one rush, leaving a gummy, compressed centre. Air under the loaf keeps the base from steaming its own crust soft