Starter + Flour + Water = Bread

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!