I bake the dough directly from the refrigerator, unless it looked a little underdeveloped going into the refrigerator and still looks that way the next day.
Hi Melissa!
I’ve got my dough retarding in the fridge and can’t wait to pop it in the oven to see how it comes out.
I’m curious about the step where you said to proof the dough in the basket for 20+ minutes before putting it in the fridge. I’ve never seen that before. Do you do this for other breads, too?
Thanks!
Exciting! I hope it comes out good.
That 20 minutes at room temp before putting the proofing basket into the refrigerator is super variable and dough dependent. Also room temp/season dependent.
If the dough feels strong and maybe a little under-fermented, I might leave it at room temp for even longer than 20 minutes. Or if I don’t want bread for two days, I might refrigerate immediately but for >24 hours. Winter might be 40 minutes and summer might be 20 minutes… And if the dough is (too) far along in fermentation, I might skip the time at room temp and go so far as to put the basket in the extra-cold back of my refrigerator to cool it down even faster.
I find that manipulating the time before refrigeration is more effective/predictable than bringing the dough out of the refrigerator earlier before baking to warm up and try to further the proofing on that side of the refrigeration. And if the dough warms up, you lose some of that cold stiffness that makes scoring easier.
I also will extend, shorten, or eliminate the bench rest based on how the dough feels. I’m sorry that “dough feel” is a vague guideline. The straight-walled bucket helps for tracking fermentation, but I certainly don’t predict things correctly all the time!
Thank you! This is super interesting. I’m slowly getting a hang of “dough feel” so it’s not that vague.
The recipe I usually follow suggests only a 50% rise before shaping and putting the dough in the fridge. So I was a little nervous going with a 6-7 hour bulk.
But the bread came out perfectly and is delicious. I did do a few stretch and folds because I like to touch the dough while it’s in bulk.
I will experiment with leaving the basket out with my other breads and will see how it goes. I’m not afraid of a pancake 
.
Thanks again!
I’m so glad it came out well. There should be a sourdough baker t-shirt that says, “Experiment and don’t be afraid of the bread pancake!”
Though there was that time I tried to leaven a dough with green kombucha from Trader Joe’s 🤦
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Maybe you can design an official Breadtopia Bread Baker tee! After all, you ARE multi-talented!
Blessings,
Leah
Thanks 
I’ll leave design to the experts though lol
I started my own sourdough starter going on a year now. It has been quite a process of learning and experimenting, mostly with great results but also lost a lot of sleep worrying about dough sitting overnight, not to mention all of the TIME it takes to develop a loaf with the hours of attention required and all the stretches and folds, etc. I was getting better at managing how to fit the time it took into my busy schedule but once I found this recipe, it has revolutionized how i bake. I will still do the usual stretch and folds over hours but now I know that I can create a great loaf with so much less work. This loaf here is a combination of 40% kamut, 40%bread flour, 20% spelt, 20% whole wheat, 50 gms souirdough starter cold from fridge, 380 gms water and 8 gms sea salt. I did an hour autolyse before adding salt and 50 of the total 380 gms water then proceeded with a 9.5 hour rest at temp of 73 deg, then shaped and refrigerated for 12 hours before baking. Thank you Melissa! I am falling in love with sourdough baking more and more especially with this easy and delicious recipe!
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I’m so glad to hear this recipe inspired a personal bread baking revolution and renaissance of your love for sourdough baking. Your loaf looks amazing and sounds delicious!
I had a similar issue with all the time and attention when I started with sourdough baking. I actually created a starter, baked two loaves of bread with a recipe that had a zillion steps, and then threw out my starter because the whole schedule seemed too aggravating. Two weeks later, I was still hearing from the family about how good the bread had been, so I made another starter and eventually found Breadtopia and @eric 's no knead videos to give me a more laid back approach and more conceptual understanding so I wouldn’t need a spreadsheet and a weekend to bake. Even though I generally do like spreadsheets 
With New Zealand in lockdown once again, I’ve had plenty of time to practice my sourdough baking.
Mostly as per the no knead instructions, I did add one round of kneading an hour after mixing up. (Rubaud method). It’s early spring here so the nights are still cold, I ferment this in my laundry overnight. (Probably went a touch too far this time).
Dough was quite sticky but shaped up ok. It got 12 hours final rise in the fridge.
Really soft airy crumb, sweet honey like flavour.
Check out my instagram @scottesim for some more of my sourdough baking adventures.
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This loaf is delicious and came from a great recipe, which I went over many times before I attempted this. When I took the lid off the bread for the last part of the bake, I laughed at my pancake as I had read comments about the very same thing on the forum. The boule had very little oven spring. However, it was rich with flavor and wonderfully tangy, the crumb acceptable, but the crust was thick and tough. Maybe it was over proofed? Does anyone know why that might be the case? This is my second time making sourdough bread and I love it! Thank you for this recipe!
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Hi Melissa! Thank you for your recipe. It turns out to be an amazing and easy to follow recipe and the result is more than satisfying!
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Excellent! Enjoy 
Hi Melissa,
Your recipe for the 50% spelt flour is a challenge for me. My first loaf attempt was flat as I knew I over proofed it. But, the flavor was still great. My second attempt started yesterday. Fed my starter 7am, but wasn’t ready until 4pm. I had run out of bread flour so I used the 220 grams of fresh milled spelt that I purchased a week ago in NY state, then used 70 grams of sprouted wheat flour and 150 grams of King A. All purpose with 320 grams of water and 9 gr. Salt. Gave it one 4 fold after 30 minutes. Then let it sit at 70 degree room temp for2 1/2 hours. Since I wasn’t waiting until midnight to bake it, I put the dough in the refrigerator. Went back to it 2:00 the next day, still hadn’t fully fermented so, I let it sit on counter an hour. At that point, dough was “jiggly” and a few bubbles were apparent. So I turned it out, formed a boule, rested 15 minutes, then reshaped a boule so it was taught. Gave it a 20 minute counter rest and popped it into the frig for 2 1/2 hours. At that point it looked and felt ready to bake. Had my cast iron heated in the 500 degree oven so in she went. Whelp, I didn’t get a good rise, no ear at all and baked 20 min 500, removed lid and 16 minutes at 475. Should I have left in in the refrigerator another night?
Beautiful loaf!
Could this recipe work in a Pullman pan? Would all your recipes work in a Pullman pan?
Which size pullman pan do you have and do you want the lid on or off for your bake? I can advise on how to calculate dough weight with more info.
I haven’t bought it yet but thinking the 9 inch is more practical than the 13 inch. I will freeze the bread and take slices as needed.
Also lid on to get the sandwich shape which would be more condensed texture