No-Knead Sourdough Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ripe fresh sourdough starter
• 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
• 5 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
• 1 Tbs salt
• 2 tsp Diastatic Malt Flour

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl, or large (6-quart) food-safe plastic bucket.

Mix and stir everything together to make a sticky, rough dough. If you have a stand mixer, beat at medium speed with paddle attachment for 30 to 60 seconds. If you don't have a mixer, just stir with a big spoon of dough whisk until everything is combined.

Leave dough in bucket of bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour. Fold dough over several times, cover again, and let rise for another hour. Repeat folding-rising process one more time (for a total of 3 hours), folding again after last hour. Then place bucket or bowl in refrigerator, and let dough rest for 8 hours (or up to 48 hours).

When you're ready to make bread, turn dough out onto well-floured work surface, and roughly shape into ball. Leave dough seam-side up, cover, and let rest on floured surface for 15 minutes.

Next, shape dough into 13" log and place in baking dish. Cover with lid.

Let loaf warm to room temperature and rise; this should take about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. It won't appear to rise upwards that much, but will relax and expand.

With rack positioned in middle of oven, preheat oven to 500 degrees, 1 hour before your read to bake.

Just before baking, dust loaf with fine coat of flour and use lame or sharp knife to make arched slash down the loaf lengthwise.

Cover baker with lid and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 450 degrees and bake bread for 45 minutes. Remove lid and bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer, until bread is deep golden brown and crusty, and digital thermometer inserted into center reads at least 210 degrees.

Remove bread from oven and transfer to rack to cool completely.

Yield: 13" loaf