whole wheat sourdough flatbread

 I'm super grateful that Trader Joe's has whole wheat flatbread with no preservatives, etc.  I'm eating it daily as I avoid refined sugar/grains/seed oils.  

Someone on Facebook posted this with a tasty photo so I'm adding it to my to-do list when I want from scratch, which is of course always better.

Flat bread

Farmhouse on boon

Ingredients

* 260g or 2 cups flour I use freshly milled hard white wheat

* 250g or 1 cup starter

* 5g or 1 tsp salt (note: this is high, that would be over 1000 mg of salt per flatbread??, cut it to 1/4 tsp)

* 135g or 1/2 cup milk

* Olive oil for cooking (optional I don’t use it)

 

Instructions

1. Mix sourdough starter, flour, milk, and salt together. Knead for a few minutes.

2. Cover and allow to rise for for 2-4 hours (or overnight for long fermentation). I leave 24 hours!

3. Divide into 8 equal pieces.

4. Roll flat (about 1/4” thick) on a lightly floured work surface.

5. Add a small amount of olive oil to a cast iron skillet and preheat over medium. I don’t use oil, just put straight on the pan.

6. Cook each flatbread for a minute or two on each side until it starts to brown a bit.

sunflower seed bread

 I discovered a bag of past best by date sunflower seeds in the back of my refrigerator so I want to use them up quickly.  This recipe for German Sonnenblumenkernenbrot was pretty good. Here's the video of making it, also.

 

Ingredients

Day 1 (or morning): Sourdough

• 100 g Whole Wheat Flour
• 100 ml Water
• 10 g Sourdough Starter or 3 g dry yeast

Day 1: Scalded Flour

• 100 g Whole Wheat Flour
• 150 ml boiling Water

Day 1: Seeds

• 100 g Sunflower Seeds (or Pumpkin Seeds)
• 200 ml Water

Day 2 (or afternoon):

• Sourdough from Day 1
• Seeds from Day 1 (including the water)
• Scalded Flour from Day 1
• 300 g Whole Wheat Flour
• 4 g Instant Yeast
• 13 g Salt
• some additional Sunflower Seeds for the top

 

Instructions

Day 1

• TIP: Measure the water on the scale if possible. 1 ml water = 1 g!

  Mix the ingredients for the sourdough: Mix the water with the sourdough starter, then add the flour. Mix well, cover, and set aside overnight.

   Next. mix the ingredients for the scalded flour: Pour boiling water over the flour and mix until it has combined. It's supposed to be a big lump so don't worry that it's not enough water! Cover and set aside for several hours or overnight.

   Soak the Seeds: Pour the hot water over the seeds, cover and set aside for several hours or overnight. This step is important so the seeds won't soak the liquid from the bread dough later.

Day 2

• In a large bowl place the flour, the scalded flour, the sourdough, and the soaked seeds including the water.

  Add the yeast and salt. But the salt a little aside and not right next to the yeast.

  Start mixing at a low speed for 3 minutes, then increase the speed and mix for another 4 minutes.
• Put the dough into a large bowl, spread it out and let rise for 90 to 120 minutes.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and shape it into a log.
• Brush some water onto the top of the dough. Put some sunflower seeds on the board and roll the top of the bread over it so it sticks to the bread.
• Grease a loaf pan and put the dough into it – sunflower seeds on top. Make sure it goes all the way into the corners.
• Cover the baking pan with a clean kitchen towel and let ferment for about 50 minutes until it has clearly increased in size.

Baking

• Preheat the oven to 250°C / 480°F.

   Place the bread into the oven. Also put an oven-safe bowl with water into the oven to create some steam. Close the oven door and reduce the heat to 210°C / 410°F.

   Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the bread from the baking pan and also remove the bowl with water. Put the bread back into the oven.

   Bake for another 20 to 25 minutes. The bread is ready if it sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom of the load.

   Let cool completely before cutting.

sourdough bread with oats

This was super hard to work with because it's SO high hydration.  I mean SUPER hard to work with.  I wasn't sure I'd make it again.  And then I ate it and ... it's really really good.  Super tasty.  So, I'll keep making it.  Though, it was a bit on the sweet side so I'll probably usually make it without any honey.

Ingredients

• 120 Grams Rolled Grains 3/4 Cup
• 200 Grams Bread Flour 1 1/2 Cup
• 200 Grams Whole Wheat Flour 1 1/2 Cup - I use a Triple 200
• 90 Grams Raw Honey 1/4 Cup - Dark honey works well here
• 12 Grams Salt 2 Teaspoons
• 400 Grams Water 1 2/3 Cup
• 250 Grams Starter 1 Cup - 100% hydration - Stirred down

Instructions

The Night Before

1. In a large glass bowl mix all ingredients into a wet and sticky dough. I use my dough whisk for this step because the dough will stick to your hands. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
2. Using the dough whisk do a round of stretch and fold. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Repeat this stretch and fold process up to 5 more times.
3. Cover the dough and place it in a warm area of your kitchen. Ferment the dough overnight.

The Next Morning

1. Uncover the dough and wet your hands. Do a stretch and fold in the bowl to deflate the dough and start the shaping process. Let the dough rest 5 minutes.
2. Spread a handful of oats out on your work surface. Small rolled grains work well. Turn the dough out onto the oats. Make sure the dough lands seam side up on the oats. Quickly shape the dough into a round so that the oats are covering the dough. Place the dough seam side down and shape it further using your hands and the tension of the surface. Leave the dough seam side down on the work surface for a few minutes.
3. Let the dough double at room temperature.
4. Preheat oven to 450° with Dutch oven inside. 
5. Cut a square of parchment paper and turn the dough out onto it so the seam side is now down.
6. Score the dough with a sharp razor blade. The oats can make it a little tricky to score so I use a nice wide cross pattern instead of something more elaborate. 
7. Remove the hot Dutch oven from your oven and take the lid off. Carefully pick up the dough using the corners of the parchment paper. Lower the dough into the Dutch oven and replace the lid. Place the Dutch oven back into the oven and bake covered for 25 minutes.
8. After 25 minutes remove the lid and continue baking for 15 more minutes. This bread should bake for 40 minutes total.
9. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and parchment paper. Place the boule on a cooling rack and let it cool completely before slicing.

sourdough banana muffins

These were tastier than I expected! 

From here. I liked them with some chopped pecans sprinkled on top before baking.  I would like to cut the sugar, so it's worth playing with that.  Also could be at least partially whole grain flour.  I did put a little (maybe 1 T) worth of whey drained from yogurt in for a bit of moisture but it probably wasn't necessary.  Interesting that there's no fat but the texture is still good.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar (or 1/3 c. honey?)
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• pecans to sprinkle on top of each 

Instructions:

1. At least 12 hours before you wish to bake them, combine sourdough starter and flour. It will make a very thick dough, so do not be alarmed. Cover and place in a warm spot to culture for 12 to 24 hours.
2. After 12 to 24 hours, preheat oven to 375°F. Combine sugar, banana, and egg in a small bowl. In another small bowl combine salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.
3. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the cultured dough. Gradually add the liquid ingredients, stirring just to combine.
4. Spoon batter into muffin tin, filling 3/4 full. Bake at 375°F for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

the sourdough I most often make

This is the recipe I most often use, modified somewhat from the original.  It makes 2 large loaves that are tasty indeed.  Note: I have updated the directions for warmer weather.  While the original directions were great for a 60 degree kitchen, my 80 degree kitchen was leading to overproofed loaves.  

 

Warm weather directions:

 

Have starter bubbling and ready to go (feed the night before).  In the morning mix together:

2 oz white flour (56 grams)

2 oz whole wheat flour (56 grams)

8 oz starter (230 grams)

118 g of water

 

Start checking after about an hour or two and start the autolyse mix.  Once it's doubled in size, add into the autolysed mixture:

Autolyse:

31 oz flour (mixture of white, whole wheat, rye, millet, oats, etc.) (880 grams)

1 T salt

679 g water

After mixing together, do 5 stretch and folds at 15-20 minutes apart.

Let double (start checking at about an hour).

Shape into two loaves.  Let double again.

Before doubling, start heating the oven to 450 degrees (with pans in oven)  Once heated, bake for 30 minutes with lid on, then remove lid and bake another 15 minutes.  

*I would quite like to figure out how to use a solar oven for this, but haven't gotten there yet.

 

Winter directions:

The night or two before starting, pull starter out of fridge and revive it by feeding it.  (I found that by usually keeping starter in fridge instead of regularly feeding on the counter, the sour taste is stronger, which I like.) I never measure these things - I do a high proportion feeding, meaning an eyeball of about as much flour as there is starter and then adding about that much water and stirring it up and leaving it at room temperature in a bowl with a plate on top.  Note that I use nonchlorinated water; now that I no longer have an artesian well or Berkey water filter, I need to leave a bowl or jar of water out or boil it for 15 minutes for the chlorine to evaporate.

At about noon or 1 pm on start day, make sure the starter is bubbling and smelling right.  Then,

STEP ONE
Mix together:
2 ounces of wheat flour
2 ounces of white flour
8 ounces of starter
118 grams of water (1/2 c)

STEP TWO - Autolyse
This can be done at the same time or a bit later, but I do find that a long autolyse really improves the quality of the bread.
Mix together:
31 ounces of flour (19 oz whole wheat, 12 oz. white ... or any other configuration of flours such as barley or rye or millet)
1 T salt
679 g water (2 3/4 c. + 2 T)

At about 6:30 pm, combine the two bowls (I use crab hands).  Then do a stretch and fold every 20-30 minutes, about five times total.

Leave the dough overnight, covered with a shower cap.  (New thing because I often am not free weekend mornings: I will try to refrigerate it overnight, pull it out first thing in the morning, give it a couple of hours, and then proceed.)

In the morning, separate into two bowls, first shaping and putting onto parchment paper (parchment paper is not mandatory, but I find it challenging to get the loaves into the preheated cast iron without burning myself if I don't use it).

Allow another 2-4 hours rising time.


Heat oven to 450 degrees, with pan (cast iron with lid is best) heating in oven.  Bake bread for 30 minutes covered then remove lid and bake another 15 minutes.

***
Right now I'm heating up the oven to bake loaves that were 8 oz. millet, 10 oz white, 13 oz. wheat, and the liquid for the autolyse was almost all whey from cheesemaking.  It's been rising very nicely and I may have even overproofed it.  My oven now is tiny so can only do one loaf at a time, and the temperature regulation is sketchy at best.  I was getting aggravated and then I realized that folks have been baking bread in fires for a very long time, and you can't adjust a fancy knob on a fire.  Bread is adaptable and I find it hard to go wrong, in part because I've been making it so long.  It took me a long time to start on sourdough, only been doing it a year and a half or so, but my decades of yeast bread baking are definitely helpful for intuitively understanding how bread acts and responds.  

 

***

I have a bunch of old yogurt to use up so I'm going to put it in and add more water.  Here's my first try:

 

679 grams of water x .035 (% of fat) x .13 (approximate % of milk solids) = 109 

I think that some of the milk solids may break down during autolyze, so I'd just add another 110 grams of water and 679 grams of yogurt and see how that goes.

 

BUT.  I don't want to waste all the flour if it doesn't work right.  So I think I'll just add 

300 grams of yogurt

425 grams of water + more water until texture is right

 

sourdough cornbread

This sourdough cornbread definitely has a sour tang to it.  At first I wasn't sure I liked it, but my coworkers were so crazy about it that I reconsidered and now I quite like it.  Plus, I usually have sourdough discard in my fridge to use up, so this is a win-win.  It stays moist longer than many cornbreads, and it freezes well.

From here.

Ingredients

• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups cornmeal (225 grams)
• 1 ¹⁄₂ tablespoons sugar
• 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups sourdough starter (345 grams @ 230 per cup)
• 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons cream of tartar (or 3 tsp vinegar)
• 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons baking soda
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. Grease up a well seasoned, 9 or 10 inch iron skillet and place in oven while it preheats.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
3. Combine the cornmeal, sugar and salt in medium bowl.
4. Scald milk and pour over cornmeal mixture.
5. When mixture is room temperature, add remaining ingredients and mix well.
6. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
   

Elly's whole wheat sourdough - 1 loaf

Here's another try at whole wheat sourdough, and she mills her wheat herself.  I did it as she suggests but it makes a long day because my house is cold (I put it in the oven too soon because I didn't want to stay up too late). Elly's Facebook group is here, with lots of other good information.

Morning before baking: extended cold autolyse.

• 450 grams whole wheat flour (about 3 cups)
• 405 grams filtered water*

Mix until no water left.  Cover and put in the refrigerator all day (about 12 hours).

In the evening of day 1, add:

• 130 grams active starter
• 9 grams salt

Mix it up well. 

Cover and leave to bulk ferment.  I have a spot in the corner above the heater, where the temperature is usually around 62 degrees.  Leave it about 10-12 hours, until rising and bubbly but not bubbles on top.

Morning of day 2
Shape the dough.  Elly has in her video a method of using stretch and fold for this.  Do it four times over an hour.  Use wet hands.

When ready for final shaping, prepare basket (I use a colander with parchment paper, that I can just move easily to the heated pan).  Shape and put it in container, leave for 1-3 hours.  (I put it in the folding proofer at 85 degrees for 1.5 hours and I think it needed more time.)  

When almost ready (indentations slowly fill in), heat oven up to about 475 degrees (or 450 convection, I use).  Bake 25 minutes in a hot covered dutch oven, then 15 minutes more uncovered. 

Let it cool several hours for best texture.

(I haven't tasted it yet, but the oven spring is promising.)





*I no longer have my Berkey water filter with me, and the tap water is quite chlorinated.  Filtered water in the store is very expensive.  There is fortunately an artesian well just outside town, but when there is any snow/ice on the ground it involves quite a production as they keep the gates to the area closed.  I borrowed a wheelbarrow from work, drove out there, and schlepped the half mile or more to the well, filled up two bottles, and schlepped back.  It was actually fine this time; the last time I tried it with four bottles and the road was very slippery and slushy, and it was pretty awful. 

100% whole wheat sourdough

I'm in the middle of making this bread (from here).  I anticipate I'll need to keep notes on how to make it work for me.  I find freshly milled wheat to be substantively different from the bagged whole wheat flour from the store I've always used.  I think autolysing is even more important and I do it longer.  Now that I have a grain mill and good supply of grain (I have the non-GMO hard white wheat from Palouse, which is quite good), I want to use it.  Flour is expensive here, especially good flour.  I don't want bleached, bromated flour making my bread, I want whole grains.  So, I'm giving this recipe a shot, which starts with a stiff starter. Times are for a Saturday-Sunday bake, though I'm going to try to make this on Sunday and refrigerate 24 hours until I can bake after work on Monday.

Prepare the 100% whole wheat stiff levain – 8:30 a.m

Weight	Ingredient
50g	Mature stiff starter
100g	Whole Wheat flour
65g	water @ 85ºF

Keep your levain in a warm area and wait about 4-5 or so hours until it’s matured enough to leaven your dough. You can see my whole wheat stiff levain all mixed up and in a tight shaped ball.  If using a stiff levain you want to use after significant expansion has taken place, but there is still a domed top (i.e., your “stiff ball” has not yet collapsed in the top-middle). If using a liquid levain you want bubbles on top and throughout and still a sweet smell to it, but almost tangy.

Sift Flour and Autolyse – 8:40 a.m.

Ingredients:

Gather the following:

Weight	Ingredient	Baker’s Percentage
1000g	Central Milling Hi-Pro Medium Whole Wheat flour	100%
750g, 200 g	H2O @ 80ºF, boiling	75%
20g	Fine sea salt	2%

Grind 1000 grams of flour (from ingredient listed below), and sift it. 
Pour the sifted, coarse bran into a small bowl and pour 200 grams of boiled water on top. Let this soaking mixture rest near your levain until ready to mix the dough.

Take the sifted flour and add 700 grams of water (about 80 degrees). Mix together and leave to set with levain and soaking bran.

Mix – 12:00 p.m.

After autolyse has finished break up 175g (17.5%) of the stiff, ripe levain on top of the dough, pour about half of the remaining warm water on top to help dissolve things.

He mixed for about 8 minutes, in the bowl, using a combination of the “pincer” method and stretch and folds. A “pincer” motion is performed by bringing your index finger and thumb together as you work from one side of the dough to the other, when you reach the end we do a stretch up and fold over. Do this over and over until you feel like the ingredients have been incorporated thoroughly. After this, you can do stretch and folds until the dough starts to feel a little more extensible, a little stronger.
After about 8 minutes of mixing, pour on your 20g salt and pincer through the dough to mix well. I mixed for an additional 2 minutes with salt added.

Final dough temperature:	79ºF
Ambient temperature:	80ºF (in the oven with light toggled on and off)

Bulk Fermentation – 12:10 p.m.

Transfer your dough to a container to be used during bulk fermentation and let rest for the first 30 minutes. After the first 30 minutes have passed, perform first set of stretch and folds.

1. 12:40 p.m. – Turn Set 1
2. 1:10 p.m. – Turn Set 2 – After this set gently fold (using a little water on your hands) in your sifted bran, resting in boiled water (it will have absorbed all 200g and will be moist but not wet)
3. 1:40 p.m. – Turn Set 3 – Dough felt strong here so this was my last set, we want to avoid overworking this dough

Because of the higher protein amount in this whole wheat flour the dough looked plenty strong to me after three sets of stretch and folds. I let the dough rest from 1:40 p.m. to 4:10 p.m. to complete bulk fermentation.

Pre-shape – 4:10 p.m.

Divide dough into two halves. Pre-shape into two loosely shaped boules to rest for 20 minutes.
 It’s not important to have tightly rounded boules at this point, but if your dough feels exceptionally slack (mine did not), then a little extra tension here will help strengthen your dough. I try to avoid overworking whole wheat dough at this point, especially now since the bran has been incorporated.

Cover with inverted bowls or damp towels to keep the resting dough moist.

Shape + Proof – 4:30 p.m., Then in Fridge at 4:45 p.m.

After the 20 minute rest, shape each dough mass into a taut boule and put into the fridge.

Score + Bake – around 10:50 a.m. (or 5:00 pm ...)

Baking in a Dutch Oven

Place Dutch oven in oven and turn it to 500ºF for a 1-hour pre-heat. After one hour, take one of your bannetons out of the fridge and cut a piece of parchment paper to place on top. Take your peel and then put it on top of those two and quickly invert it, so the dough is now resting on the parchment paper which is resting on the peel.

Take out the shallow side of your Dutch oven and drag in your dough. Quickly place the pan back in the oven, cover with the deep side, and bake for 20 minutes at 500ºF. After 20 minutes, turn down the oven to 450ºF and cook covered for an additional 10 minutes. Once this 10 minute period is over, open the oven and take off the deep lid of the Dutch oven to vent the steam (set it next to the other half inside the oven), then cook for an additional 30 minutes or so, until the bread is to your desired doneness.

Wait as long as you can (preferably around 12-24 hours) before cutting. The interior stays quite tender for an extended period, and the flavor develops the next day.

sourdough crepes

These are SO GOOD and a great way to use "discard." From here.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 tbsp. melted butter
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk (to thin batter) (I will try whey for this - it should still be good) 

Instructions:

1. Heat a 10-inch skillet over medium heat. In a medium bowl combine all ingredients, slowly adding milk until the desired (thin) consistency is reached. Add some butter to the skillet once it's hot.
2. Pour 1/3 cup of the batter into the center of the pan. Pick up the pan and turn and tilt it to allow batter to spread in a circular motion. Cook for about one minute or until edges come away from pan. Flip and cook an additional minute or two.
3. Remove crepe from pan and repeat with remaining batter, adding butter to pan as needed. Serve with jam, berries, whipped cream, or syrup.  (Or savory: fermented vegetables and sour cream.)

sourdough dog treats

What to do when you've got sourdough "discard"?

Well, my dog is obsessed with all things fermented.  She would run through the Valley of Death to get to a sourdough pancake, so I figured sourdough treats would be a good high-reward treat for her.  PLus, my friend read the ingredients out loud to the Trader Joe's "Peanut Butter" dog treats, and there wasn't a lick of peanut butter in them.  Time to start making my own.

The recipe is from here, which I follow pretty closely.  I just got a pizza cutter to help make the cutting easier.  The recipe is really for big bone-shapped treats, but I get the most usage when I cut them into tiny treats.  If I cook them thoroughly enough and let them dry, they're countertop stable for a couple of weeks at least (though I tend to freeze the bulk and pull them out as necessary).  My dog loves them and they are high value, so it's a win-win.  They are rich, so she doesn't get very much at a time.  They're made from ingredients that I often have on-hand and need to use up.  It's a winning recipe!

Ingredients

• 2 eggs (or 1/2 c. yogurt)
  
• ¹⁄₂ cup pumpkin
• 1 cup sourdough starter
• ¹⁄₄ cup peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons oil or fat (I am currently using some beef tallow; will also use lard and bacon drippings)
• 1 cup oats
• 2 ¹⁄₂ cups whole wheat flour (approximately 450 grams - when I look up weight for whole wheat flour, answers are all over the place.  Bob's Red Mill says theirs is 152 grams per cup)
  

Directions

1. Combine the first 5 ingredients.
2. Add the oats and as much of the flour as you can until the dough is too hard to mix.
3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead in the remaining flour.
4. Dough should be stiff, but not crumbly.
5. Roll out dough about 1/2-inch thick and cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters, or for a quicker version just cut 1/2-inch wide strips with a pizza cutter or knife, and then cut strips to 2-inch lengths.
6. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 325°F for 20 minutes.
7. Turn biscuits over and bake another 20 minutes.
8. Turn off oven and open door so it's ajar to let out excess heat for a few minutes and then close door and leave biscuits in oven until all the heat is gone.
9. If there is still moisture in the biscuits, let them air-dry until they are completely hard and crisp before storing.

*****
I vary this a lot based on what I have on hand.  Today I mixed it in food processor.

Ingredients:
-salmon (1 half pint jar plus skin & juice from a pint)
-2 eggs
-1 cup oats
-1 tsp. bacon drippings
-1 cup red lentils, ground into flour
-1 1/2 or so cup whole wheat, ground into flour

Followed baking directions above.  I think I'll take some to share with coworkers' dogs. 

whole wheat sourdough bread

From here. I keep using this recipe because it's reliably good and works with my schedule.

Ingredients

Levain

• 8 ounces whole-wheat sourdough starter (½ cup)
• ½ cup water
• 2 ounces all-purpose flour (⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon )
• 2 ounces whole-wheat flour (⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon )

Dough

• Total of 31 ounces of flour (1 lb, 15 oz) which I sometimes do as below:
• 19 ounces = 1#, 3 oz.all-purpose flour (3⅓ cups plus 1 tablespoon ), plus more for dusting
• 12 ounces whole-wheat flour (2¼ cups)
• 2¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons warm water (85-90°F) (2 7/8 cup)
• 1 tablespoon salt

 Directions (added for weekend baking)

1. At 1 pm on Friday - To prepare levain: Combine starter, ½ cup water, ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour and ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon whole-wheat flour in a medium bowl. Cover loosely and let stand in a warm spot until bubbly and doubled in size, 4 to 6 hours.
2. At the same time or a few hours later - To prepare dough: Combine flours. Mix and slowly add 2¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons warm water. Mix just until the flour is moist, being careful not to overmix. Cover and let stand for 20 minutes (or longer) to allow the water to completely hydrate the flour before mixing the final dough.
3. At 6 pm on Friday - Remove the bowl cover. Add salt, then spoon in the levain (from Step 1) and mix until combined, about 2 minutes. (I use crab claw hands.)
4.  Transfer the dough to a 10- to-12-quart plastic food-storage container. Reach under one end of the dough, pull up a handful until there is resistance, then stretch it back over the top of the dough mass and drop. Turn the container a quarter turn and repeat the fold. Repeat two more times for a total of 4 folds. Cover and let stand for 30 minutes. Repeat the folding procedure 4 more times, every 20 minutes, to build the gluten and strengthen the dough. Cover and let stand until doubled in size, 6 to 12 hours.  (Fold at around 6:30 pm, 6:50, 7:10, 7:30)
5. 8 am Saturday - Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, sprinkle flour on top and split it in half. With floured hands, roll each half into a ball. Place the dough balls into the prepared bowls or baskets (floured or with parchment paper). Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until the dough is puffy, 2 to 4 hours. To test, press gently with a floured finger. If the depression springs back to the original shape in a few seconds, allow the dough to proof longer. If it doesn't spring back, it is ready to bake.
6. About 11 am Saturday - Place a large cast-iron pot with lid in the oven and preheat to 475°F. After reaching 475°F, wait at least 20 minutes for the pot to heat up before baking.
7. Carefully remove the pot from the oven and remove the lid. With floured hands, pick up the dough and carefully place the loaf inside the pot. (It is OK to gently drop it in from a height of 3 to 4 inches to avoid burning yourself.) Replace the lid and transfer to the oven. (Can refrigerate second loaf while the first one bakes.) Bake for 30 minutes, remove the lid and continue baking until browned, about 15 minutes.
8. Remove the loaf from the oven and carefully transfer the bread to a wire rack. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.
9. Repeat Steps 7-9 for the second loaf. (I've started cooking in a stainless steel pot also, so can do them at the same time.)