Overnight Sourdough Bread

It's a round food baking day! (Doug is off camping with the scouts, so the kitchen is getting a work out..)

Last night I made up a sponge that I decided this morning to split between this bread and some Mini Chocolate Sourdough Muffins. I baked this bread in a Dutch oven to give it a crunchy crust.

Ingredients:

Overnight Sponge

• 4    ounces sourdough starter
• 4    ounces lukewarm water
• 5 1/2    ounces All-Purpose Flour   

Morning Mix-Ins

•  5 1/2    ounces All-Purpose Flour
• 2        ounces lukewarm water
• 1 1/4    teaspoons salt
        

Instructions:

1. Mix up the overnight sponge in a standing mixer bowl before you go to bed. Cover with kitchen towel.
2. In the morning, rub some flour into 10 inch circle on a smooth kitchen towel. Line a six cup bowl with the floured.
3. Add the additional flour, water, and salt to the sponge. Knead for about 4 minutes.
4. Turn out the dough onto a well floured surface, and form into a ball.
5. Place the ball on the floured towel in the bowl, and allow to rise for 60 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 425 degrees about 30 minutes after the dough starts rising.
7. After rising, sprinkle the top of the dough lightly with a little semolina flour.
   (This is so the bread won't stick as much after cooking.)
8. Cover the dough with a piece of parchment paper and a cutting board, and flip the dough onto the parchment paper.
   (Use a pastry brush to brush off excess flour.)
9. Use the parchment paper  to move the dough into a Dutch oven.
   (Optional - spritz dough lightly with water.)




10. Just before baking, slash the bread with a lame or a very sharp knife several times across the top.
    (This may allow the bread to have more of an oven spring.)




11. Place lid on Dutch oven, and bake for 25 minutes.
12. Remove lid from Dutch oven.
    (Optionally - remove from oven, brush with a little olive oil to get a browner crust, and return to oven. I did add brush on a little oil.)
13. Bake the bread another 10 minutes or so. It should reach 205 degrees on an instant read thermometer.
14. Remove bread from Dutch oven and cool on a rack for an hour or so.

Carole's Notes:

My goal was for a smaller loaf, and think this turned out great! This ended up being about 18 ounces after baking.

The recipe was adapted from http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/extra-tangy-sourdough-bread-recipe
Here's a double recipe - I made later. I used all of of the overnight sourdough, and in the morning added 2 ounces of water, 8 ounces of flour, and 2 teaspoons of salt. I cooked this one in a pre-heated Dutch oven at 450 degrees, 20 minutes with the lid on, and another 15 or so without the lid.