Sourdough Bread #1

Another experiment in my self-directed home-based course in bread-making.

Ingredients

6 cups flour - in this case, 4 cups white and 2 cups whole wheat
4 cups water straight out of the tap
3 or 4 tbsp of ripe (active) sourdough starter - to test if active enough put a bit in a bowl of water and see if it's bubbly enough to float. If it floats you're good to go!
1 tbsp salt

Directions

Autolysis: "In biology, autolysis, more commonly known as self-digestion, refers to the destruction of a cell through the action of its own enzymes. It may also refer to the digestion of an enzyme by another molecule of the same enzyme."
The term derives from the Greek words αὐτο- ("self") and λύσις ("splitting"). Do not be tempted to knead. Simply cover the bowl and leave it in a warm place for anything from 20 minutes to up to 3 hours. During this resting stage, gluten development begins and simple sugars start to form as starch is broken down. Although it may look like nothing is happening, you will notice the difference as soon as you handle the dough because during the autolyse it will have become smoother and elastic.

1. Put flour and water into a big mixing bowl.
2. Mix it up by hand, getting the fingers covered in sticky mix and scraping it off with a spoon.
3. Leave to rest for about 2 hours to autolyse, covered just to keep it from getting crusty.
4. Add starter and salt.
5. Keeping it in the bowl, use your hand to fold the dough over itself to mix the dough thoroughly and stretch it.
6. Leave to rest 15 minutes or so. 
7. Repeat the stretch, fold, and rest process two more times.
8. Remove the dough onto the counter.
9. Stretch and fold the dough for ten minutes. An alternative would be to throw the dough at the work surface repeatedly. Use a scraper to help lift the dough off the surface. Add flour in small amounts if the dough is too liquid.
10. Line a mixing bowl with a kitchen towel. Sprinkle flour over the cloth.
11. Shape the dough ball by stretching and tucking so that there is a "spring" and stretch on the outside of the dough ball. 
12. Place the dough in the bowl, top down. Cover with flour carefully. Fold the towel over top.
13. Place in fridge overnight.
14. Invert the bowl to remove the dough and land it upright on a parchment sheet on a baking sheet.
15. After dough has come to room temperature, make a slice in the top of the dough with a sharp knife. You can make a pattern of choice with the knife slices.
16. Bake in oven at 450 degrees for 20 minutes. Place a baking sheet or shallow pan with water in the oven to provide some steam to the baking process. You could also use a water sprayer to actually spray mist into the oven at the start of baking. This helps form the crust. 
17. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake until crust darkens further.
18. Remove and let stand to cool for at least an hour.
19. To store the bread, stand with cut side down on a plate. Don't plastic bag it because the crust will soften.
20. Amazing!