Ingredients
- •1 cup (5 oz.) white whole wheat flour
- •2 1/2 cups (11 oz.) white bread flour plus more for dusting
- •1 1/2 tsp. salt
- •1 1/2 cups purified water
- •1/4 cup sourdough starter
Preparation
Step 1
1.In a large bowl combine flours and salt. Add the ¼ cup starter to the 1 ½ cups water, and stir until starter is fully diluted by water. Pour the starter/water mixture into the flour/salt mixture and stir until blended. Dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70°.
2.Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour, flatten the dough with your fingertip into rectangle and fold it over on itself once or twice lengthwise, then fold in half to result in roughly a square. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
3.While dough is resting, spray a 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray and lay inside a 9 or 10-inch skillet.
4.Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to the parchment-lined skillet. Cover loosely with cotton towel and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about two hours.
5.At least a half-hour before dough is ready [90 minutes into rise time], heat oven to 500°. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, [using a razor blade or sharp knife], make one or more 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch deep slit[s] along top of dough.
6.Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven to 425°
7.Bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 205° - 210°, 15 to 20 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about two hours.