Basic Sourdough

Molly LeBlanc's favorite thing to make lately, and she wrote out the whole process by hand. Four ingredients, but the technique is the recipe. Her advice on reading the dough is worth more than any timer, especially in south Louisiana where the humidity changes everything.

Ingredients

• 100g active bubbly starter
• 350g warm or room temperature filtered water
• 500g bread flour
• 10g salt, preferably fine sea salt

Instructions

1. Make the dough. Whisk the starter and water together until milky. Add the flour and salt until the dough stiffens and starts to form. Ideally finish mixing by hand so everything is fully incorporated. Cover with a damp towel, or a large shower cap, and let it sit 30 minutes to an hour.
2. Stretch and fold. Grab one side of the dough and pull until you feel resistance, before the dough tears, and fold it over. Quarter turn the bowl, pull and fold. Quarter turn, pull and fold. A fourth time, pull and fold. Cover and rest another 30 minutes. Complete four rounds of stretch and folds over about two hours.
3. Bulk ferment. From the time you mix the flour into your starter, fermentation has begun. Depending on the temperature of your house the dough needs to bulk ferment up to eight hours. She's done when she's risen about 50 percent, has a jiggle, is bubbly on the surface, and a pressed finger leaves a dimple that raises back up without sticking. Still sticky means not quite done, or overdone.
4. Pre-shape. Turn her slightly and fold each section over into a little ball. Flip her seam side down and rest 10 to 15 minutes. While she rests, line a proofing basket, banneton, or mixing bowl with a towel dusted in flour.
5. Final shape. Dump her onto a firm surface. Cup your hands around her and drag her toward you in J pulls to create surface tension. Flip her upside down into the prepared bowl.
6. Cold proof. Into the icebox for up to two days. The whole ball should be colder than room temperature.
7. Heat the Dutch oven. Put a Dutch oven with its lid into a cold oven and crank it to about 500°F for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on your oven.
8. Score and load. Take the dough out of the icebox and cut an expansion score into her, a long cut, or get fancy with designs. Put her on a bread sling or parchment and drop her into the Dutch oven. Gas ovens eat humidity, so add a pan of boiling water to the oven. Electric ovens don't need it. Either way, add ice cubes to the Dutch oven beside the sling, not on the dough.
9. Bake. Covered, 20 minutes at at least 450°F. Remove the lid and bake another 20 to 30 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches at least 205°F.
10. Wait. The worst part. Let her cool a full hour before cutting.

Recipe Notes

• From Molly: I know this sounded like so much, but it is so much fun and worth practicing. I recommend everyone try it at least once, because after one loaf your confidence builds and then you start adding inclusions during your stretch and folds, which is how you get all the fun flavored sourdough you see at the artisan markets.
• If she over-ferments: don't fret. That's your excuse to experiment with focaccia.