Emily Laurae

Levain
14 Make sure to do a float test - It’s the best way to tell if your starter is fresh. Simply pinch off about 1 tablespoon of your starter and place it in a glass of water. If it floats, you're in business!
1 Mix starter (20g) and water (80g) together before adding bread flour (80g) and mix until homogenous approximately 12 hours before you start the process of making your Sourdough loaf. Place in a covered container at room temperature.
Batard Bread
3 Mix your levain and water together until combined. Then mix in the bread flour until little to no clumps remain with a spatula or your hands and cover for 45 minutes. This is called the autolyse - hydrating your flour prior to moving on to the next step.
4 *When making sourdough it’s helpful to have a little bowl of water nearby - dipping your hands in water prior to working with the wet, sticky dough will help immensely!
5 Add 2 teaspoons of kosher salt to your dough and mix with a spatula or your hands until the salt granules have dissolved completely into the dough. Place in a bowl greased with one tablespoon of olive oil, cover, and set aside to rest for another 45 minutes.
6 Time to start folding the dough - every 30 minutes for the next two hours fold your dough as shown in the video below. Gently stretch the dough in an upwards motion before placing back onto itself - do this four times every 30 minutes rotating around the dough as you do so.
7 Once you’ve folded the dough 4 separate times, allow it to rest for 45 minutes before continuing.
8 Pre-Shape: On a wooden cutting board greased with a touch of olive oil, gently shape the dough into a batard or oblong shape, being careful not to deflate it. Starting from the top edge, fold the dough down about one-third of the way towards the center. Next, fold the bottom edge up towards the center, slightly overlapping the previous fold, and pinch the dough in the middle to secure the seam. This pre-shaping process establishes the foundation for the charming oblong shape. Flip the dough seam side down, gently tuck the two ends underneath, and create some tension by dragging the dough against your work surface around ten times. You can find a detailed demonstration of this process in the accompanying video. Allow the dough to rest, covered by a towel, for 30 minutes.
9 Final Shape - Once again, follow the instructions above before placing the dough seam side up into a banneton dusted with rice flour. Place in the fridge overnight covered.
10 The next morning, preheat the oven to 450 degrees with your dutch oven placed inside while preheating - turn on your timer for 45 minutes. After turning on your oven, remove your sourdough from the fridge. Grab a piece of parchment paper larger than the diameter of the dough and flip the cold dough onto the parchment paper. Using a lame or a razor blade, score the bread one ⅓ of the loaf from top to bottom. See the video below for an example! Once your 45 minute timer has gone off, place the loaf into your preheated dutch oven. Be careful not to burn yourself or drop in your sourdough! The parchment paper is your friend here - use the parchment paper as grips to gently lower the loaf into the dutch oven and place the lid on top.
11 Bake for about 25 minutes or until you start to see a hint of browning on the edges and top of your loaf. Once you see the top start to brown, you can remove the lid completely. Bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the bread is a rich, dark golden brown.
12 Remove the dutch oven from the oven and carefully remove the sourdough from within - I usually use a small spatula to coax one side of the bread from the bottom of the dutch oven, allowing me to remove the hot sourdough loaf and place it on a cooling rack.
13 It will be very challenging to wait before cutting into the loaf, but I promise you it’s worth it! Cutting into your bread when it is too hot could ruin it’s structure - I usually wait an hour at the very least before diving in unless you don’t mind cutting in early.