Overnight · 5 qt / 4.7 L Dutch oven
Country loaf, overnight
The everyday loaf. Build the levain in the morning, fold in the afternoon, shape in the evening and bake after breakfast. A crackly crust, an open crumb and a gentle tang.
- Water
- 75%
- Start to finish
- 27h 20m
- Levain
- 20%
- Oven
- 480°F
The schedule
Times are for dough at 75°F (24°C). Start to finish: 31h 3m at 68°F, 27h 20m at 75°F, 25h 27m at 80°F. Filled steps get longer or shorter with temperature. The rest stay the same.
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1
0:00 · 5h
Build the levain
Mix the levain weights from the formula card. Ready when it has roughly doubled, domed and is just starting to flatten, and smells sweet-sour rather than sharp. Starter straight from the fridge works, but can take an hour or two longer.
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2
5:00 · 1h
Autolyse
Flour and all the water except 25 g, which you keep back for the salt. No salt, no levain yet. Mix until no dry flour remains, then leave it alone for 20 minutes to an hour. The dough hydrates and starts building gluten on its own.
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3
6:00 · 30m
Add the levain
Pinch and fold the levain through until there are no streaks left.
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4
6:30 · 30m
Add the salt
Salt and the 25 g of water you kept back. Squeeze it through, then fold the dough over itself until it comes back together.
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5
7:00 · 30m
Bulk ferment
Cover and keep it warm. First fold in 30 min.
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7:30 · 30m
Fold 1 of 4
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8:00 · 30m
Fold 2 of 4
-
8:30 · 30m
Fold 3 of 4
-
9:00 · 30m
Fold 4 of 4
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6
9:30 · 1h 30m
Bulk, hands off
No more folding. Bulk is done when the dough has risen roughly 50%, domed, and feels airy — jiggly, not soupy. Read the dough, not this clock.
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7
11:00 · 5m
Pre-shape
Tip out onto a bare counter, fold into a loose round with a bench scraper. No flour under it — you need the drag.
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8
11:05 · 25m
Bench rest
Uncovered. The round will relax and spread a little; that is fine.
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9
11:30 · 10m
Shape and basket
Shape tight, seam side up in a floured banneton. Rice flour or semolina if you have it.
Sources King Arthur Baking: Bannetons, brotforms, and proofing baskets: a guide
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10
11:40 · 12h
Cold proof
Straight into the fridge, bagged. 8–16 hours all work; longer means more sour and an easier score.
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11
23:40 · 1h
Oven on
480°F / 250°C, Dutch oven preheated inside. Give the pot at least 45 minutes at temperature. Glass lid or plastic knob? Check its heat rating first. If it is lower than this, fit a metal knob, or bake on a stone with a pan of steam instead. The loaf can wait in the fridge until the pot is hot. Enamelled or ceramic pot? Check its maker's care notes on heating it empty, and take the loaf out when the oven reaches temperature: a fridge-cold loaf can crack a hot pot.
Sources King Arthur Baking: Artisan sourdough bread tips, part 3Lodge Cast Iron: Cleaning and care: enameled cast iron
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12
24:40 · 20m
Bake covered
Turn the dough out onto parchment, score it in one confident stroke about 1 cm deep, lower it in, lid on.
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13
25:00 · 20m
Lid off
Drop the oven to 450°F / 230°C. Bake until the crust is deep brown — darker than feels comfortable. A thermometer in the centre should read at least 190°F / 88°C.
Sources King Arthur Baking: Using a thermometer with yeast bread
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14
25:20 · 2h
Cool before cutting
On a rack, at least two hours. The crumb is still setting; cutting early is what makes a loaf gummy.
Sources King Arthur Baking: How to tell if bread is done baking
No Dutch oven? The app changes the bake to fit what you have. In a loaf tin, the dough proofs in the greased tin and bakes at 425°F with no pot to heat. From a banneton, the loaf goes onto a hot stone or steel with a pan of boiling water below it for the first 20 minutes. Making two? It divides the dough and times each bake.
Sources King Arthur Baking: Easy everyday sourdough breadKing Arthur Baking: A guide to baking bread with steam at home
