Ingredients
Method
Night Before
Step 1: Feed your starter
- Depending on your kitchen temperature overnight, adjust your starter feeding ratio. In my 72F kitchen I fed my starter 1:3:3 ratio (25g refrigerated starter, 75g water, 75g flour) this ratio in my environment allowed the starter to be at peak late morning the next day.
Step 2: Mix the Dough
- In a glass measuring bowl combine the 375g water, 125g active starter, 500g bread flour, and salt (5g or 10g, depending on your butter). Mix and knead by hand for about 3 minutes, until you have a shaggy but cohesive dough. Cover and let it rest for 1 hour.
Step 3: First Stretch & Fold (no butter yet)
- Perform one full set of stretch and folds — grab a side of the dough, stretch it up and over the center, rotate the bowl, and repeat around all four sides. Cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
Step 4: Laminate
- On a lightly water-misted counter, gently stretch your dough out thin but avoiding too much tearing. Take your frozen stick of butter and grate it evenly over the surface.Fold one side of the dough over the center like folding a letter. Grate a bit more butter over that folded section. Fold the other side over, then grate a little more butter over that side too. Fold the whole thing in half, add a final scattering of butter, then fold once more into a rough square, making sure every bit of grated butter has been used up. Shape the dough back into a ball and return it to your measuring bowl and flatten it. Note the level of the dough against the side of the bowl right now — you’ll use this as your visual marker for the dough percentage rise.Cover and let rest 40 min.
Step 5: 3 more Stretch & Folds 40 min apart
- Perform three additional stretch and fold sets, spaced 40 minutes apart. Don’t be surprised if the dough resists stretching much after lamination — that’s completely normal. Gently lift and stretch it with both hands as far as it comfortably goes, fold it in half once, repeat at least once more and return it to the bowl. If your kitchen is extra warm, you may need to pop the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Step 6: Bulk Rise by Percentage
- Once your folds are finished, cover the dough and let it bulk rise until it’s risen to the desired percentage.The percentage rise you’re looking for depends on your dough’s temperature, not just the air temperature in your kitchen. In my kitchen, temps are between 72F-75F so I aim for 100% rise (double in size).
Step 7: Pre-shape, Rest, Shape
- Once your dough has hit its rise, turn it out and pre-shape it gently into a round. Let it rest, uncovered, for 20–30 minutes. Then shape it with surface tension into its final form and place it seam-side up in a well-floured banneton or proofing bowl.
Step 8: Cold Ferment
- Cover the shaped dough and place it in the refrigerator overnight.
Step 9: Score & Bake
- Preheat your oven with your baking vessel inside. A Dutch oven works beautifully here, but you don’t need one — open baking on a baking steel or stone with a steam pan on a lower rack is a completely valid method. Line whichever you’re using with a piece of parchment paper before the dough goes in, to catch any butter that renders out during the bake.Score your loaf, transfer it to your baking vessel, and bake covered first (if in Dutch oven), then uncovered to finish browning — the same rhythm you’d use for a standard sourdough loaf. Internal temperature of the baked loaf must reach 200F.
Step 10: Cool and Slice
- Cool the loaf on a cooling rack for 1 hour before tearing into it or slicing.