Here’s the finished product - my rustic sourdough loaf! My favorite bread in the whole world. So crusty and delicious! That sourdough flavor is unbeatable. 🤩 Rustic Sourdough Bread Ingredients: 3 cups bread flour 1 1/4 cups warm water 1 cup active sourdough starter 1 1/2 tsp salt Instructions: 1. Mix all ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer using a dough hook (or large mixing bowl) just until combined and then let rest for 15 minutes. 2. In the mixer, knead for 5 minutes. Or knead by hand for about 8 minutes until you have a nice smooth dough. 3. Transfer to a lightly oiled medium-sized bowl, seam side up. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 5 hours, stretching and folding the dough about every hour or so for the first couple hours. You want to leave it alone and let it rise undisturbed for the last hour. At this point you can either continue with these directions or form a firm loaf on a floured baking surface, put it in a sourdough banneton basket, cover, and place in fridge overnight pulling it out in the morning and then continuing with these directions. 1. Set a cast iron dutch oven into the cold oven and turn heat to 450 degrees. 2. Plop dough out of bowl onto a lightly floured surface and gently shape into a ball. Place it on a square of generously floured parchment paper. Make sure there’s a good coating of flour on the top, as this will make scoring easier. If you refrigerated it overnight, just plop the dough gently out of the banneton onto the parchment paper, no shaping needed. 3. When the oven is preheated, slash the top of the loaf with a bread láme or serrated knife (in 2-3 places) and transfer it to the hot Dutch oven by holding the edges of the parchment paper. 4. Place the hot lid on the pot and bake for 15 minutes. 5. Remove the lid and continue baking for another 15 minutes, until golden brown. 6. Remove from oven and remove bread from Dutch oven and let cool completely before cutting. (I always break this rule and cut a little piece off to enjoy warm slathered in butter.) Yield: 1 beautiful loaf of rustic sourdough bread #sourdough #bread - @myeverydayordinarylife