Feed Starter

• Feed starter 4-12 hours before mixing up your dough

Mix Ingredients

• To one mixing bowl, add the ingredients for the pink dough.  To the second mixing bowl, add the ingredients for the plain dough.  Mix each until they come together into a shaggy dough ball.  Let the dough rest for 15-30 minutes to “autolyse”.  This just means you’re giving the flour a chance to absorb the water and the starter.
• You can wait and add the salt after a few minutes, or add it to the dough when you mix it up.

Create Structure In Your Dough

• Begin creating structure in each ball of dough by doing a series of stretch and folds, coil folds and/or lamination every 15-30 minutes.  You will know your dough has good structure when it holds it shape and starts getting some bubbles on top.  Sometimes I only do 2-3 stretch and folds before letting it bulk ferment if I’m in a hurry, but I try to also do 2-3 coil folds and one lamination.  

Bulk Ferment

• Cover bowls with a loose fitting lid like a plate and leave it in the bowl at room temperature for 2-3 hours to bulk ferment.

Shape

• Turn dough out onto the counter.  Wet your hands so the dough doesn’t stick to your fingers, and gently spread either the plain or the colored dough out in a rectangle as thin as you can without tearing it.  Whichever color you want on the outside of your loaf is the color you’ll lay down first.  Add inclusions if desired.  Spread the other color of dough on top of the first layer of dough.  
• Take ⅓ of the dough from one side of the rectangle and fold it towards the middle.  Do the same with the other side of the dough, bringing it over the top of the other side of the dough.  This will create the beautiful swirl in the bread.  Roll up the dough into a ball and create surface tension on the ball by pushing it away from you and then pulling it back towards you several times.  Creating tension on the dough will help you shape the sticky dough.

Cold Ferment

• Place dough upside down in a banneton or tea towel and flour lined bowl.  Cover with cloth or plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 2-12 hours.  Keep in mind that the dough will raise some while in the refrigerator, but it may not double in size like yeast bread.  It does a lot of its raising while baking.  Remember, this is very different than baking regular yeast bread.

Preheat Oven

• There are two ways you can bake this bread.  In a dutch oven or without a dutch oven as an “open baked” loaf.  Either method works well.  If using the dutch oven method, be sure to place your dutch oven in your oven while it preheats to 450 degrees.

Score

• When oven is hot, take sourdough out of the refrigerator and dump it out onto a sheet of parchment paper.  Your dough should still be holding it’s shape.  Brush gently with flour (rice flour makes the scoring stand out the best, but is optional).  Score the top of the dough about ¼” deep using whatever designs you desire.  I like to make a heart for Valentine’s day, etc.  

Bake

Dutch Oven Method

• Remove your pre-heated dutch oven from the oven.  Remove lid and quickly place parchment paper with bread on it into the hot dutch oven.  Replace lid and quickly place it back into the oven.  Place a baking sheet on the rack under the dutch oven so the bottom of the loaf doesn’t end up too hard and crusty.

Open Bake Method

• Place parchment paper with bread on it onto a baking sheet or pizza stone and place it into the oven.  Below it place a baking sheet or pan and pour boiling water into it to create steam.  This will help to give your bread a crispy crust with a fluffy inside and will replicate the dutch oven baking.
• Reduce heat to 425 degrees and bake for 25 minutes.  
• Remove the lid if using a dutch oven.  
• Bake for 15 more minutes until the loaf is a nice golden brown.
• Remove bread from the oven and place on a cooling rack.