The evening before you wish to make the bread, prepare your leaven. Combine ingredients and mix until no clumps remain. Cover and let ferment overnight at room temperature.

In a large bowl, add water and active starter. Mix.

Add flours to the water and starter mixture and mix until a shaggy dough forms with no clumps or dry bits of flour.

Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the salt over the top of the dough and with moist hands, work the salt into the dough thoroughly.

Now we move onto the bulk ferment; set a timer for 3 1/2 hours(4 hours if your house is cold or it's the winter time) and set an additional timer for every 30 minutes during those 3 1/2 hours. Cover the dough and come back in 30 minutes to do stretch and folds.

With clean, wet hands, release the dough from the side of the bowl and tuck it to the center, repeat circling around the bowl multiple times. Cover the dough and repeat in 30 minutes. You can do coil folds if you prefer, just a matter of preference.

After the bulk ferment, we move onto a pre-shape. Empty the dough onto a clean surface. Pre-shape the loaf into a boule; round or oval, depending on the proofing baskets you intend to use. Carefully build tension in each loaf, but don’t allow the tops to tear.

Bench rest: allow the dough to rest, seam side down on the counter for 10 minutes. Then carefully build more tension in the loaf and give it it's final shape.

In a floured banneton basket, place the loaf seam side up. Cover the loaf with a bread bag or plastic wrap to trap in moisture and move the loaves to the fridge. The dough needs a minimum of 5-6 hours in the fridge but I prefer an overnight ferment. You can let them sit in the fridge for longer if you want a more sour flavor.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. with dutch oven inside. Ideally you would let the oven preheat with the baking vessel inside the oven for an hour. But I don’t always do that.

Pull the loaf from the fridge and flip it onto a bread mat or parchment paper. Dust the top of the loaf with flour and using a sharp bread razor, score the top of the loaf as desired

When the oven is preheated and the loaf is prepared, leaving the vessel in the oven, slide the rack out, open the lid and place the loaf inside the vessel as quickly as possible. Put the lid back on and slide the rack back in the oven.

Reduce the heat to 450 degrees F. and allow to cook covered for 17-22 minutes.

Remove the lid and reduce the temp. to 425 degrees F. and bake for an additional 12-15 minutes or until the internal temperature is 200 degrees F.

Remove the baking vessel and place the loaf somewhere to cool. Allow the loaves to cool completely before slicing - this is very important!