• Fermentolyse - Premixing The Dough

  Weigh out your sourdough starter and water into a mixing bowl. Mix the water and starter together briefly. Then add your flour and salt and mix whole lot together to form a shaggy dough. Cover your bowl with a damp tea towel and let it sit for around 1 hour. It's ok if it's a little bit longer, it's not going to matter too much.
• Forming Up The Dough

  After the dough has been through autolyse you need to bring it together into a ball. Work your way around the bowl, grabbing the dough from the outside, stretching it up and over itself, into the centre, until a smooth ball is formed. You shouldn't need more than about 20-25 stretches to form the ball.

  Once the dough has formed into a smooth ball, pop the damp tea towel back on and let it rest for 30 minutes.
• Stretch & Fold - Creating Structure

  Over the next few hours you need to create some structure for your dough by "stretching and folding".

  Aim to do around 4-6 sets of stretches and folds.

  For each set, stretch the dough up and over itself 4 times. Leave around 15 minutes in between each set. Again you do not have to be exact with time, but you need to do at least 4 sets over 2 hours.
• Bulk Ferment

  Once you've finished your stretch and folds, cover the dough with a plastic cover (a recycled plastic bag is perfect) and allow the dough to double at room temperature.
• Shaping The Dough

  Once your dough has finished its first ferment, it's time to shape it into either a boule or a batard.

  You'll need to flour your counter top with rice flour for this (we use rice flour because it has no gluten). Try to be quite sparing with the rice flour, you only need a very light dusting.

  Use a dough scraper to gently ease the dough out of the bowl (your hands work just fine if you don't have one). You want it to land upside down on your counter so that the smooth top of the dough is on the countertop and the sticky underside is facing up. This will make it easier to shape.

  You want to pull the edges of the dough into the centre and then flip it over so that the sticky side is now underneath. Using the stickiness, gently pull the dough into a tight ball.

  You will need a proofing basket or container to put your dough into. If you do not have a banneton, then a bowl or basket lined with a floured tea towel is perfectly fine. Make sure your bowl isn't too big though, you want your dough to retain some shape. You can find more notes on what to use as a banneton here.

  Whatever you're using needs to be liberally floured with your rice flour. If you're using a cloth or tea towel, rub the flour into it to ensure it becomes non stick (see notes here for details on this).
• Placing Into A Proofing Container

  Once the dough is shaped into a tight ball, place it into your proofing basket or container smooth side down, so your seam is on the top.
• Cold Ferment

  Now the dough is in its "shaping container" cover it loosely with a plastic bag and place into the fridge.

  Try to leave it in the fridge for a minimum 5 hours up to a maximum of around 36 hours. The longer you leave it the better your bread will be! A longer cold ferment creates beautiful blisters on your crust and a deeper sourdough flavour. It will also ensure your dough forms a skin which makes it easier to score.

BAKE YOUR SMALL BATCH SOURDOUGH LOAF

• Once you're ready to bake your sourdough, you'll need to preheat your oven to 230ºC/450ºF.

  Leave your dough in the fridge until the very last minute - placing a cold dough into a hot oven will give you a great "spring".

  When your oven is at temperature, take your sourdough out of the fridge. Gently place it onto a piece of parchment paper or silicone sling if using.

  Gently score your bread with a clean razor blade or knife. At minimum a large cross is sufficient, but you can get as artistic as you like. You can find my full guide on how to score sourdough bread here.

  Carefully take your dutch oven out of the oven. Place the sourdough into the pot using the silicone sling or parchment paper as a handle. Put the lid on and place into the hot oven.

  BAKE TIME:

  30 Minutes with the lid on at 230ºC/450ºF plus

  10-15 Minutes with the lid off at 210ºC/410ºF
• Finishing The Bake

  When you remove your dough from the oven, carefully remove it from the oven as soon as possible and place on a wire rack to cool.