Before you start

Weights are important. Grab yourself a kitchen scale before you begin.

Get some starter. You probably know someone that will be happy to share.

Feeding and maintaining your starter

• 100g Water
• 100g Flour

To feed your starter: Add 100g of water and 100g of flour to your starter.

Divide the fed starter in half. Discard or give away one half. Store the other half in the fridge until you're ready to start the baking process, or it needs to be fed again.

Your starter should be fed once per week.

Getting ready to bake

• 100g Water
• 100g Flour

Begin the following approximately 24 hours before you want to bake. If you start at 8am, you should be feeding your starter for the last time, late at night. You'll be ready to make your dough the next morning. The 8 hours times listed ahead are not hard and fast. If your starter is working well it may not take as long. If it's left a little longer, that's fine too.

Feed your starter 100g of water and 100g of flour. Put half back in the fridge and leave the baking half in a covered, large bowl on the counter for 8 hours.

• 100g Water
• 100g Flour

Feed your starter again. 100g of water and 100g of flour. Cover again and leave on the counter for 8 hours.

• 200g Water
• 200g Flour

Last time to feed! This time 200g of water and 200g of flour. Cover again and leave on the counter for 8 hours.

Your starter is ready to use!

Making the dough

Ingredients for the dough

• 800g of the starter you have made
• 500g of water
• 900g of flour
• 22g of salt

Mix the starter, water, and flour together. No need to fully blend it. Let it sit for 20 minutes.

Add the salt. 

Knead the mixture for 7-10 minutes. I do 5 minutes in a Kitchen-Aid with dough hook, and 3-5 minutes by hand.

Let the dough rise in a covered big bowl or bucket for 4-6 hours. The warmer the room the less time this will take.

Your dough should at least double in size.

Making the loaves

You can make any sized loaves you'd like, but the baking times will vary a bit then.

Divide the dough into 3 parts.

Shape the loaves and put them into baskets or pans lined with floured tea towels. Place them seam side up.

Cover the loaves with another tea towel and let rise for 2 hours.

Baking the loaves

• Pre-heat your oven on convection to 450ºF

If you want to bake the loaves in a dutch oven, put this in the oven now. If using a baking sheet it doesn't need to be pre-heated.

Score the loaves.

Bake for 20 minutes at 450° (with the cover on if using a dutch oven)

• Reduce oven temperature to 400ºF

Turn down the oven to 400° and bake for 10-15 minutes (remove the cover if using a dutch oven) until the loaf is nice and dark.

You have bread!

These instructions were taught to me by Monika Muntener and then modified as I made bread more often.