Country Sourdough Boule

Overnight Dutch-oven country loaf: ripe starter, 72% hydration, cold proof, blistered crust and an open crumb. Weigh the flour and water. Cool the loaf fully before you slice.

By Brandon Carroll

Yield: 1 loaf (about 12 slices)

Prep: 40 minutes active

Cook: 45 minutes

Total: about 16 to 20 hours, mostly unattended

Ingredients

• 100 g ripe sourdough starter (100% hydration), fed 4 to 6 hours earlier and doubled
• 360 g water, about 80 to 85 F
• 500 g bread flour (or 450 g bread flour plus 50 g whole wheat)
• 10 g fine sea salt or kosher salt
• Rice flour or extra bread flour, for dusting the proofing basket

Instructions

1. Feed the starter 4 to 6 hours before you mix. It is ready when it has doubled, looks domed, and a spoonful floats in water. If it is sluggish, give it one more feeding at 1:2:2 (starter:flour:water) and wait.
2. In a large bowl, stir 100 g ripe starter into 360 g warm water until milky. Add 500 g flour. Mix with a wet hand or dough whisk until no dry flour remains. Cover. Autolyse 30 minutes.
3. Sprinkle 10 g salt over the dough. Pinch and fold until the salt disappears and the dough feels smoother, 2 to 3 minutes. Cover.
4. Bulk ferment 4 to 5 hours at 75 to 78 F. During the first 2 hours, do 4 sets of stretch-and-folds, 30 minutes apart: wet a hand, lift one side of the dough, stretch up, fold over, turn the bowl, repeat 4 times. In a warm Georgia kitchen the bulk will finish closer to 3 1/2 to 4 hours. The dough is ready when it is airy, jiggly, and about 50 to 75% larger — not doubled into a balloon.
5. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured counter. Preshape into a tight round. Rest uncovered 20 minutes.
6. Dust a banneton or towel-lined bowl with rice flour. Flip the dough, letter-fold, then drag it toward you to build surface tension. Place seam-side up in the basket. Pinch the seam closed.
7. Cover and refrigerate 12 to 16 hours. The dough should feel puffy and spring back slowly when poked. If it collapses, it overproofed; bake it anyway and expect a flatter loaf.
8. Set a Dutch oven (5 to 6 quart) on the middle rack. Heat the oven to 500 F for 45 minutes with the pot inside. Keep the dough in the fridge until the last minute.
9. Turn the dough onto parchment. Score a single deep slash (about 1/2 inch) at a shallow angle, or a simple cross. Lower into the hot pot. Cover.
10. Bake covered 20 minutes. Uncover, drop the oven to 450 F, and bake 22 to 28 minutes more until the crust is deep mahogany and a thermometer in the center reads 205 to 210 F.
11. Lift onto a rack. Cool at least 2 hours before slicing — the crumb is still setting. Store cut-side down on the board for a day, then bag. Toast day-two slices in a skillet with butter.