My very favorite bread of all time, with fresh rosemary, crunchy sea salt flakes, and that beautiful sourdough texture. This bread is a hero to avocado toast, a best friend to soups, and it's simple to make.
150 grams active, bubbly sourdough starter
310 grams warm water
25 grams high-quality olive oil
8 grams fine sea salt
3 grams Maldon flakes or other high-quality coarse sea salt
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped fine
500 grams bread flour
Extra olive oil and coarse sea salt, for after baking
1. Mix chopped rosemary with fine & coarse sea salt. Combine sourdough starter, water, olive oil, and rosemary salt. Whisk to combine.
2. Stir flour into starter mixture.
3. Finish mixing by hand, folding mixture until it forms a rough ball. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rest 45-60 minutes.
4. Over the next few hours, give the dough a stretch & fold about every 30 minutes or so. Plan to stretch & fold four total times.
5. To stretch the dough, pull dough from one side and give it a long stretch, folding the dough back to the middle. Turn the bowl a quarter turn, stretch again and fold back to the middle. Repeat on all four sides, cover dough back up, and allow to rest again until the next stretch & fold.
6. Once you've completed all the stretches, put the dough in the refrigerator and allow it to sit overnight.
1. The next morning, pull your dough out of the fridge and allow it to warm up a bit, about an hour depending on the temperature of your house.
2. Line a large bowl with a tea towel and dust it lightly with flour. Shape your dough into a ball, pinching the bottom together to create a seam. Place dough, seam side up, into the towel-lined bowl.
3. Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Allow dough to rest and rise for about 2-4 hours, or until puffy and doubled (the time will vary quite a bit depending on your dough and the temperature in your house).
4. Place a dutch oven with lid in the oven and preheat oven to 450° F. When oven comes to temperature, carefully turn your dough onto a piece of parchment, seam side down. Score the dough with a bread lame or very sharp knife in any desired pattern.
5. Lift the parchment paper with your sourdough and lower it into the hot dutch oven. Cut away any excess parchment paper, put the lid back on, and bake covered for 25 minutes.
6. Remove lid from dutch oven and continue to bake uncovered for another 20-30 minutes, or until bread is golden and cooked through. The best way to tell if bread is done is to take its temperature with a meat thermometer - it should be about 205 - 215° F.
7. Remove from oven and gently lift bread out of dutch oven, using the parchment paper as handles. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes, then brush liberally with more high-quality olive oil and sprinkle all over with coarse sea salt.
8. Allow the sourdough loaf to cool completely before slicing - if you slice into it too early, you could end up with a gummy texture! It should rest for at least an hour before you slice it.
