• Place a bowl over your scales and tare the scale to 0g.
• Add the water, then the starter and mix.
• Add the flour and salt and mix really well until all ingredients are blended. You can use your hands, but I use a dough whisk and a scraper to scrape off excess of dough from the whisk or hands.
  

Bulk fermentation

• The dough looks shaggy and not smooth at this stage. It will take around 6 -8 hours for the dough to ferment at room temperature, it will double up.
  
• Cover and leave at room temperature. If your kitchen is cool it will take longer for the bulk fermentation. In the summer it will take less time.
  
• If you are around, do this: after an hour or so, with wet hands pull the dough slightly and fold it, you don't even need to take it out of the bowl. I use a bowl scrapper and just pull around the bowl, this also works. Do this every half an hour for the first hour and a half, it will make the dough smooth and stretchy.
  
• If you are not around, you don't have to do anything, the dough will just do its magic.
  

Shape your dough

• After the dough has nearly doubled, it's time to form it. I use a round banneton bamboo basket sprinkled with rice flour to prevent the dough from sticking.
  
• Take the dough out on a lightly floured surface.
  
• With floured hands, flatten the dough slightly in a rectangle. Stretch each end and sides to form an envelope.
  
• Then bring each corner into the centre to form a ball.
  
• Turn the ball carefully onto the surface, scrapping the flour away. This will help the dough tighten and keeping its shape.
  
• Turn the dough ball into the banneton with the smooth top down. Sprinkle rice flour on the dough, this will be the bottom of your bread.
  

Proof your dough

• Cover the banneton basket and leave it either at room temperature or in the fridge to rise again.
• Depending on the temperature you left it at, it will take between 2-4 hours (room temperature) or 8-12 hours in the fridge. To check if it's ready to bake: press the dough, it should return very slowly to its original shape.
  

Score and bake your sourdough bread

• Heat the oven to fan 220 ℃ or 428 ℉.
• Once ready to bake, prepare a baking paper sheet, turn the formed dough on it, cut the opposite corners of the baking sheet and place it in your Dutch oven or cast iron pot.
  
• Score your dough with a very sharp razor blade.
  
• The easiest is to make a cross on it, but you can also score a crescent.
  
• Put the lid on your pot. If you don't have a pot, you can improvise with a baking tray and thick tinfoil sheets to create a dome/tent around the bread to keep the steam inside.
• Place in the oven for 30 minutes.
  
• After this, take the lid off and leave in the oven for another 15 minutes.
• Take the bread out on a cooling rack.
  
• Do not slice until it has completely cooled down to keep the moisture in. This could take several hours or longer. If you cannot resist to wait that long, it's better to tear a chunk instead of cutting.