Today, I'm going to use the starter we put together, and let ferment overnight, and make a loaf of amazing bread without kneading.
Here's what the starter looked like this morning:
We mix that with some flour:
Then add some room temperature water:
After having dissolved some salt, to taste, in it:
Putting all that together:
Then we mix it until we get a shaggy dough that looks something like this:
Let it rise for three hours:
With wet hands, we fold the sides in like an envelope. Left side:
Then right:
Then far:
Then near:
Cover and let it sit for an hour:
Then repeat the folds. Left fold:
Fold right:
Fold far:
Fold near:
Then cover and let it sit for another hour:
Fold number three, notice how the dough starts to resist more as you repeat, left side:
Then right side:
Then far:
Then near:
Cover again and let it sit for an hour:
Repeat the folding once more. First left:
Then right, far and near:
Cover and let it sit for another hour:
The volume starts to increase with each set of folds! We repeat one last time. First left:
Then right:
Then far:
Then near:
We cover it and let it sit for another hour. The dough should puff up like this:
We now cover it with enough flour to prevent it from sticking to our hands:
Work the flour underneath it gently with your floured hands and flip it, floured side down, onto a clean, floured surface:
Gently fold it onto itself once without much pressure. The side pictured above should still be sticky. I put mine on a piece of parchment paper:
Let the folded dough proof for an hour. It ends up looking like this:
Meanwhile, turn on your oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit and let it preheat.
A baking stone works best, if you have one, for baking this bread for 35 minutes:
There it is!
Leave it on a cooling rack for at least two hours:
Then slice and enjoy:
Nothing beats sliced bread!