NO KNEAD OVERNIGHT SOURDOUGH

This recipe is fairly hands-off - it's about 20 minutes of "attentive time," but the entire recipe will take approximately 15-20 hours from start to finish. If you're a new bread-baker, we recommend you watch our video where we teach you how to make this loaf!

Makes one medium-sized loaf of bread.

*Don't have a sourdough starter? We recommend THIS GUIDE for starting your own!

1. In a large, flat-sided vessel (or a large bowl), combine all ingredients with a spoon or by hand until everything is incorporated. 
2. Cover the vessel with plastic wrap or a lid and leave to ferment overnight for at least 14 hours, and up to 24 hours, or as soon as the dough has about doubled in size. 
3. When the dough had doubled in size, turn it out onto a well-floured surface. With floured hands or a pastry scraper, lift up the top corner of the dough and fold it into the center. Repeat this with the other three corners of the dough to form the dough into a loose ball. The dough will be very slack and seem difficult to handle at this point, but resist the urge to add too much additional flour. A wetter dough makes for a better bread!
4. Let the dough rest, seam-side up, on the countertop for 10 minutes. You do not need to cover it. 
5. Preheat the oven to 475°F. If you have a dutch oven* or other oven-safe, lidded container large enough to fit your dough inside, preheat that in the oven while the oven is heating up. 
6. Fit a kitchen towel into a medium-sized bowel and generously flour the towel. 
7. Repeat the folding and stretching of the dough, forming it into an even tighter ball. Place the dough seam-side up into the towel-lined bowl. Gently cover the dough with another towel, or with the edges of the towel sticking out of the bowl. Let the dough rest for an additional 30-60 minutes.
8. After the dough has rested, remove the dutch oven from the oven and gently turn the dough into the preheated dutch oven. Quickly slash the top of the bread in an X shape, or snip with kitchen shears. Cover the dutch oven with its lid and return it to the oven.
9. Bake the dough with the lid on for 20-25 minutes. 
10. Remove the lid and continue baking for an additional 10-14 minutes, until the dough achieves a nice dark color. If you have a kitchen thermometer, the center of the bread should read about 205°F - 210°F.
11. Remove the bread from the oven and from the dutch oven, transferring it to a rack to cool completely. 

*If you don't have a dutch oven or other oven-safe, lidded container, you can bake the loaf on a preheated pizza stone, or a baking sheet. In order to achieve a nice crust on the dough, preheat an oven-safe pan on the bottom rack of the oven. When transferring the dough to the baking sheet or pizza stone, pour 2 cups of water into the preheated pan (make sure to wear oven mitts to avoid steam burns!). Then, bake the bread for 30-35 minutes.