Ingredients

100gms cornflour (fine maize flour a type of polenta)

400 gms white heat flour

230 gms spring water

85 gms active rye sourdough starter

10 gms fine sea salt

Method

1. In the evening before baking, first mix 100 gms maize flour with 100 gms hot water and set aside to cool slightly.
2. When the maize flour has cooled down, dissolve the 85 gms of your active rye sourdough starter into 230 gms water and add the 400 gms of white wheat flour and cooled maize flour. Mix by hand until all ingredients come together. Cover the bowl (I use a clear plastic shower cap) and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. This rest is called autolyse, which makes the dough more extensible. You can feel how the dough is more extensive after the rest.
3. Add the 10 gms of salt and mix and squeeze it into the dough.
4. Knead the dough for 5 minutes (either by hand or with your dough hook on your mixer) or until you see and it doesn’t tear, then transfer it to a clean bowl. Cover the bowl and let it rise overnight until almost doubled in volume. Around 5-10 hours depending on the warmth of your kitchen. ( a good tip I find is to put the dough into the oven with just the light on, this speeds up the fermentation time)
5. In the morning the dough will have have almost doubled in volume, look like a pillow with a few bubbles on top.
6. Using your plastic dough scraper tip the dough out of the bowl on to a lightly floured surface.
7. Pre-shape the dough into a ball (stretching the surface as much as you can it helps with the final strength and rise of the bread), let rest for 15 minutes. Flour your proofing basket so the dough doesn’t not stick, I find I still need to flour the basket even if it is linen lined. I just use bread or plain flour.
8. After 15 minutes, turn your dough over and shape it by your preferred method. I generally fold it like an envelope and then roll it up, or stitch it up twice, making sure once again you are creating tension while folding.
9. Place your loaf into your proofing basket and dust it with flour. Cover it and let it rise until it is larger in volume (size) it generally takes about 2-3 hours. You will know your dough is fermented if you push with your finger and it springs back.
10. Preheat your dutch oven for at least 30 minutes at baking temperature of 250C degrees, when it is preheated gently tip the loaf out of the proofing basket onto bake for 20 minutes with the lid on 250C degrees and then take the lid off and reduce the temperature to 230C degrees and bake for another 20-25 minutes until the bread has a nice golden crust.
11. Cool on a wire rack for at least 2 hours before cutting, this is the hardest part, but the crumb needs to settle, it you cut it too early it will be gummy.

NOTE: (I find it generally takes about 4-5 hours to become active, an active rye starter looks bubbly, and it has risen to double the size since the feeding, it is important to use before it starts to recede when it’s at it’s strongest)

NOTE: Maize flour does not have much gluten so there is no need for stretches and folds.