The night before

• Feed your starter: 20g starter, 60g flour, 60g water. Leave in a warm place to double overnight.

The next morning

Mix

• In a large, heavy bowl, mix together your active and bubbly starter, water, flour and salt until all the water has been absorbed by the flour. This should form a shaggy dough.
• Cover and leave to rest for 30 mins - 1 hr.

Stretch and Fold

• Perform a set of stretch and folds. See the above video for what stretch and folds are. Basically, you pull part of the dough up and place it in the middle of the bowl.
• Cover and leave to rest for 30 mins - 1 hr.

Lamination

• Place the dough on a clean, damp surface. Pull it out into a rectangle. Fold it by thirds into a roll and place back into the bowl.
• Cover and leave to rest for 30 mins - 1 hr.

Coil Folds

• To do a coil fold, pull the dough up in the middle and fold it over itself. Turn the bowl 180 ° and repeat. Turn the bowl 90° and repeat and then again 180° and repeat.
• Repeat 2-3 times.
• Cover and leave to rest for 30 mins - 1 hour in between coil folds.

Bulk fermentation

• Now, you will leave your dough to ferment. I can't give you a set time as this depends on many variables: temperature, humidity, how long you waited in between folds. You need to wait until the dough has increased by 2/3. The dough will be full of bubbles and will come away from the side of the bowl with no problem when you tip it out.

Shaping

• When your dough is properly fermented, tip it out onto a clean, damp surface. Pull the edges of the dough to the middle to create a ball. Turn the ball over and move around the surface to create tension.
• Round banneton: put the dough smooth side down in a lined and lightly floured banneton.
• Oval banneton: fold the ball in half and put the dough smooth side down in a lined and lightly floured banneton.
• If you wish, you can stich your dough to create further tension.

Cold fermentation

• Place your banneton of dough in the fridge and leave for 8 hrs or overnight.

The following morning: Bake

• Preheat your oven to 240°C with a shallow saucepan in the bottom. Boil a kettle full of water.When the oven is hot, turn your dough out onto a baking sheet. If desired, you can dust with more flour. Score your dough, decoratively if you wish, but at least one deep score, off centre and at an angle. This will enable the steam to escape and the bread to keep its shape.
• Turn the oven down to 230°C. Fill the saucepan in the oven with boiling water and bake the bread for 20 mins. It is important to use steam to bake bread as it helps it to rise. Don't leave the steam out!
• After 20 mins, remove the saucepan of boiling water and continue baking for 10 more minutes.
• Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool for at least 45 minutes before cutting into it.
• Serve fresh with soup, salad, as a sandwich... Or toasted with salted butter and jam. Or anyway you like actually :) Sourdough bread is delicious so many different ways!