Sourdough Artisan Blend Bread

This recipe makes wonderfully flavorful, hearty artisan loaves.  It uses Janie's Mill Artisan Blend Bread Flour, a special blend of organic hard red spring wheat and organic hard red winter wheat. to create a medium crumb and robust taste.

Yield: 2 boules

Ingredients

• 1,200 g (about 9 1/2 cups) Artisan Blend Bread Flour  (See the Variations section below for other flours you may use.)
• 750 g  (about 3 cups) water (65% hydration)
• 200 to 250 g Sourdough starter (See Baker's Notes on using yeast instead of sourdough starter below.)
• 18 g (about 1 Tb) Salt

Instructions

1. Dissolve your active sourdough starter in water. Add flour and mix gently until no dry spots remain. Let rest (autolyse) for 30 min., or up to 2 hours.  
2. Transfer dough from the bowl to the counter. Pat out, sprinkle salt on top, and then stipple the salt into the dough with wet fingers. Stretch the dough from one side to the center. Repeat from the other 3 sides of the dough. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. 
3. Stretch and fold to the center again. Turn so the seams are on the bottom and let rest, covered, 30 minutes. (Repeat this step at least four times for a total of 2 hours stretching and folding every 30 minutes to build gluten strength.)
4. Divide in half, and gently shape each half into a boule. Let rest, seam side down, for 20 minutes.
5. Tighten your boules again, flip, and place gently into bannetons, or into bowls lined with a floured towel, seam side up. 
6. Allow your dough to rise another three to four hours at room temperature, or put the loaves into the refrigerator overnight (about 12 hours). The dough is ready to bake when you press your finger into the dough, and it does not immediately pop back. 
7. Preheat a Dutch Oven at 475F. Carefully invert a boule into your preheated Dutch Oven and score using a lame or sharp knife.
8. Bake for 25 minutes with the lid on. Then take the lid off and bake another 10-20 minutes until browned to your liking. (If you don’t have a Dutch Oven, make sure to introduce steam into the oven--either a pan of hot water or a hot pan with a few handfuls of ice thrown in just after you set the loaves in to bake.)

Baker's Notes

• Stretch-and-folds. Use wet hands so the dough does not stick to your hands. 
• Using yeast. If you'd like, you may use yeast instead of the sourdough starter in this recipe.  If you plan to rest the dough overnight in the refrigerator, add 10 grams of yeast dissolved in a small amount of water.  If you plan to bake the bread the same day you make it, use 20g yeast.

Variations

Because Janie's Mill Artisan Blend Bread Flour is a 90% extraction flour, with most of the bran gently crushed into the flour, it makes a darker, more flavorful loaf than one made with a highly sifted flour. So if you prefer a lighter color and a more open, airy crumb, substitute High-Protein Flour, Italian-Style Pizza Flour, or Sifted Artisan Flour. Or try a 50/50 blend of the Artisan Blend Bread flour and one of the more highly sifted flours.