Overview

This is recipe yields two 85% hydration country loaves.

Mix by hand in a large bowl or container that you can also use to do the bulk rise.

Preparation

Start your levain the night before.

You can use a float test to see if it’s ready. Get a glass of cool water and drop a morsel sized part of the levain. If it’s floating, it’s ready!

Dough

  • levain 200 gr
  • water 800 gr warm about 80℉
  • whole wheat flour 200 gr
  • AP flour 800 gr

Mix the levain and the water together first, then add the flour. Get all the dry flour into a really sticky, dough. A scraping tool really helps.

Let this rest covered for 30-45 minutes.

Bulk rise

After the rest continue with:

  • salt 20 gr non-iodized
  • water 50 gr warm about 80℉

Add salt and pour some additional water on top.

Mix really well so that salt is evenly distributed and the water is fully absorbed.

  1. Rest 30 minutes
  2. “Turn” the dough by lifting it and pulling from the bottom. Stretch this over the top to the opposite side.
  3. Do 3-5 of these turns until the whole thing has been stretched and is slowly trying to spring back to where it started from.
  4. Re-cover
  5. Repeat until dough feels ready

The dough will begin to feel airy. Do the stretching turns but try to avoid popping as much as possible.

Division

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured large work area.

Using a bench knife, divide the dough into equal halves. Swiftly, from the bottom, do a turn like stretching action to close up that cliff face you just created when cutting the dough in half.

Flour the top just enough to keep a towel from sticking to it.

Cover with a towel and rest for 30 minutes.

You may need to repeat the turn on the bench if the dough isn’t structured enough; even an 85% hydration dough shouldn’t flatten or pancake out much.

Shaping

Heavily flour a towel sitting at the top of your benetton.

Roll the dough out onto it’s top. Pull the side nearest you out and stretch over to the top. Stretch out the right side over to the other side. Do the same with the left. Finally as you stretch out the top and fold it over, really shape and hold the dough with your hands to form a smooth round loaf.

Repeat with the other loaf and let them rest on the bench for 5 solid minutes. This really seals up the bottoms.

Place into benettons for final proofing.

Bake

  • Place dutch oven in oven
  • Pre-heat 475℉ for 25-30 min
  • Heavily flour the bottom of the loaf with rice flour
  • Turn over loaf into bottom of dutch oven
  • Score the top
  • Cover with the lid
  • Turn down oven to 450℉
  • Bake for 20 minutes covered
  • Take off lid
  • Bake for another 25 minutes at about 400℉

I adjust the final temperature to target a fully baked loaf with a nice dark browning on the loaf.