Feed Your Sourdough Starter

Cup of Yum
1. Feed 60g of active starter with 60g flour and 60g lukewarm water. Leave for 4-6 hours until doubled in size, bubbly and floating in water (float test). For best results please use a digital scale.

Prepare The Bread Dough

1. Measure your bubbly starter into a large mixing bowl. Pour in the water and mix wel.
2. Add the sugar, cinnamon, salt, treacle and raisins and mix well with the dough whisk.
3. Add the flour and mix well until you have a sticky, well hydrated dough. Optional: Half an hour after you mix your dough do one set of stretching and folding. Pull a section of the dough from the underside and stretch it upwards. Fold this over the rest of the dough. Rotate the bowl as you do this so you stretch the entire dough. 
4. Transfer the dough into a rectangular container (I like a glass pyrex dish) misted with a little water. Cover and leave to rise at room temperature overnight (8-10 hours). If it is a hot night then place the dough in the fridge where it will need 10-12 hours.

Shape The Sourdough

1. The following day take a look at your dough - it should have almost doubled. Mist your worktop with water and scrape the dough onto it – do not punch the dough down. Gently stretch the dough to form a rectangle. Fold into three sections, like a letter.
2. Roll the dough into a tight ball. Flip over, seam side down, and shape into a round loaf (known as a “boule”). Use your hands and a bench scraper to roll the loaf in your hands, slightly tucking the edges under as you go (please check the video for a demo).

Second Rise

1. Dust the loaf with gluten free flour and gently rub over the boule. Cup the loaf in your hands and place into the prepared banetton seam up. Cover loosely with a plastic bag and leave to rise again for about an hour.
2. Preheat your oven to 450F (230C) half an hour before the end of proving. Place a lidded pot (Dutch Oven) in the oven to preheat. Tip the dough onto a round piece of baking parchment and score.

Bake your Sourdough

1. Remove the pot from the oven using pot holders (please be very careful as it can easily give you very bad burns, as I can testify). Carefully place the dough into the pot, lifting it by the baking paper. Cover and bake for 20 minutes.
2. Reduce the temperature to 425F (220C). Take the lid off the pot and cook for another 20-25 minutes. You can lift the bread out of the pot and cook directly on the oven shelf for the final 5 minutes.
3. Cool the bread on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing.