Stir until it’s too stiff to work with a spoon or dough whisk. use your hand to bring the ingredients to a  uniform dough. Dough will be moist but not too sticky. If it’s too sticky, as a little more dough. Oil the bowl and place dough in it. Cove with lid or plastic wrap.

Let rise at room temperature until at least doubled in bulk. It will usually take around 12 hours. If your house is warmer bulk rise may be faster and if the weather is colder, it could taker longer for the dough to bulk rise, it could even take 30 hours.

Unless you are using robust, regularly fed starter…once the dough has doubled, you have an additional window of 12ish hours that the dough can remain at room temperature before it needs to be shaped. (I typically rise about 20 hours before shaping, so I start my dough about 24 hours before I plan to serve bread.) If you are using robust starter, keep reading to understand about rise times.

The longer the dough rises, the better the flavor will be. You can also refrigerate this dough after mixing, for up to 4 days. I recommend 6 hours of countertop time before refrigerating. Your dough STILL must double in volume before shaping, though, and the refrigerator slows this process significantly. Remove from the fridge at least 2 hours before shaping…longer if the dough hasn’t doubled yet.

DO NOT proceed to shaping unless your dough has doubled! (Even if that takes 36 hours or longer, for some very sluggish starters or very cold kitchens.)

Shape the dough and place it into a GREASED baking vessel…a Dutch oven or loaf pan. Cover and rise on the counter-top for 90 minutes. (NOTE: If your initial rise was fast…less than about 12 hours…your second rise should only be 45-60 minutes. If your initial rise took longer than 30 hours, your second rise may need to be 120 minutes or longer. You will learn your starter’s ideal timing the more you bake with this method.)

(If your dough is too wet and sticky to handle, your starter is over 100% hydration. Discard all but 2 ounces of starter, feed with 4 ounces flour and 4 ounces of water, sit for 1 hour at room temp, then refrigerate. The next day, repeat this step. This will bring your starter closer to the 100% hydration rate that works for this recipe. Salvage THIS dough by kneading in a little more flour until the dough is firm enough to shape.)

Score the loaf, either with a razor blade or lame, or with scissors. Place into a cold (un-preheated) oven and turn the oven on to 425F / 220C oven and bake, covered, for 45 minutes. Remove the cover and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove from baking vessel and cool fully before slicing.

This recipe can be baked in a 9″ loaf pan. Ideally, invert another loaf pan of the same size on top of the loaf pan containing the dough, to create the same moisture-concentrating effect as the Dutch oven. Bake for the same amount of time, starting in a cold oven and turning on to 425F, for 45 minutes covered with the other loaf pan, and 15 minutes uncovered.