Crust

Then, with the help of your scraper, turn out your dough onto your (unfloured) surface, ready to work it.

When I work the dough, I don’t flour the work surface at all. When people who have been making bread for many years see how much water I use, then start to handle the sticky dough, they often struggle at first as it takes a bit of getting used to, but once they get the hang of the technique and feel the airiness and life in the dough they never loo

Slide your fingers under the dough, then with your thumbs parallel to your index fingertips (1), lift it lightly (2), swing it upwards (3) and then slap it back down, away from you, onto your work surface (4). Stretch the front of the dough towards you, then flip it back over itself like a wave (5), stretching the dough forwards and sideways and tu

If at any point you feel the ferment is becoming too hard, dense and dormant, and is losing its smell, it is probably too cold for it to be properly active. Simply take it out of the fridge for 4 hours or so to give it time to come back to life, and then put it back into the fridge again.

There are lots of different names for the ferment that is at the heart of sourdough bread – levain, biga, starter – but I’m going to stick with that one word: ferment.

2. Stainless steel mixing bowl – Mine is big enough to comfortably hold at least 4kg of dough. I use it for mixing, resting, and sometimes also for proving the dough.

Now that the dough is beginning to rise, you want to slow down the fermentation a little, so that the dough can mature gently. To do this, put it in the bottom of the fridge for a further 2 days. If you like your sourdough more sour than sweet (personally, I don’t) you can leave it for 4 to 5 days.

simple and basic rule, whether you are using fresh commercial yeast or dried yeast, is that the less you use, the longer the dough will take to prove, but the flavour will be better developed and the bread will last longer. Conversely, the more yeast you use, the quicker the dough will rise, and as a result your loaf may be brick-like and yeasty ta

The flours I use come from small, artisan mills such as Shipton Mill in Tetbury, Gloucestershire (which also imports specialist ciabatta and 00 flour from Italy) and Bacheldre Watermill in Wales.