800g strong white flour
10g salt
460ml water
320g sourdough starter
Add the flour to a mixing bowl.
add the salt and mix with the flour.
Add the water and sourdough starter to the flour. Combine these ingredients to form a rough dough.
Turn the dough out knead until the windowpane effect (about 12 mins )has been achieved.
The dough should be smooth and elastic.

(Resist the temptation to add any extra flour)

allow the dough to prove In a bowl covered with cling film for 4 hours at room temperature.
After 4 hours turn the dough onto a clean work surface and knock the dough back.

Form the dough into a tight round ball

Place the dough, seam side facing up, into the proving basket. Loosely cover

to prove overnight for baking first thing in the morning, place into a fridge and leave overnight which allows for a greater development of flavour within the dough .

next morning

preheat your oven to 230°C / 210°C fan Place a shallow baking tray into the bottom of the oven to preheat with the oven.turn your dough out from the proving basket onto a baking tray dusted with flour
Using a sharp knife cut the surface of the dough to allow it to rise The dough can be cut up to ½ cm deep. ( scoring the bread also helps control where and how it rises while baking)
pour boiled water into the dish that was preheated in the bottom of the oven, to create steam in the oven while baking.
Place the baking tray with the sourdough into the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a good crust has formed and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the base.
Alternatively, if you do not have a proving basket, you can use a large glass casserole dish to prove and bake your sourdough.

Line a 2.5l round Pyrex dish with a clean tea towel and dust with flour. Place the formed ball of dough into the Pyrex dish lined with the floured tea towel then place the lid (the inside of the lid lightly greased and floured) on the Pyrex dish. Leave to prove overnight in the fridge for baking first thing in the morning,
The reason for using a Pyrex dish is that it acts like a proving basket. The dish acts as a support to your dough. It encourages the dough the take on the shape of the dish and to prove up and not just to spread out flat. The dough will also be baked in the Pyrex dish .
Flip the Pyrex dish over so the bowl of the Pyrex dish now becomes the lid. Carefully remove the tea towel.
Using a sharp knife cut the surface of the dough,

The dough can be cut up to ½cm deep. (This isn’t just for aesthetics, scoring the bread also helps control where and how it rises while baking)
Cover the dough with the bowl of the Pyrex dish and place the Pyrex dish into the preheated oven.
By baking the dough in the Pyrex dish there is no need to steam the oven. Baking with a lid on the Pyrex dish creates its own steam which will allow the dough to rise and open up while baking. The Pyrex is very similar to the old style of Dutch oven baking.
Bake for 25 minutes then remove the lid from the Pyrex dish and continue to bake, uncovered, for a further 25 minutes