First, you need an active sourdough starter. Make sure your starter has been fed 6-10 hours prior to making sourdough bread.
Grind 4-5 cups of hard white wheat berries to make a fine flour. The flour will be warm. Measure out 1000 grams of wheat flour into a large bowl.
Add 800 grams of ice cold water to the flour.
Mix the flour and water together. Just mix until all the flour is incorporated.
Place a damp linen napkin over the bowl and let it sit for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, you have 2 choices.A. Either mix the salt and sourdough starter into the dough by hand for 5 minutes.ORB. Dump your dough into a KitchenAid mixing bowl, then measure out your starter and salt into the mixing bowl. (My favorite method) Place the dough hook into the bowl and mix, on the lowest setting, for 2-3 minutes.
From here on out, we will NOT USE FLOUR AT ALL, ONLY WATER when working with the dough.
Get your hands wet and glide the dough off the dough hook. Using a bench scraper, place the dough back into your original mixing bowl. You do not want your sourdough dough to sit in a stainless steel bowl when fermenting. Stainless steel will manipulate the temperature of the dough and could drastically effect the results of your bread.
Get your hands wet again and do 4 stretch and folds. To do a stretch and fold: With a wet hand, scoop the NORTH side of your dough up and onto itself. Then, repeat the process on the WEST side, then SOUTH side, then EAST side of your bowl until all sides of the dough have been stretched up and folding over into the center of the bowl. (If you are confused, watch the video detailing how to do this.)
After the 1st stretch and fold, place the damp linen napkin over the bowl and let it rest for 1 hour. Repeat this stretch and fold process 6 times throughout the day. 6 stretch and folds is best; however, if you are experiencing a busy day, try to at least accomplish 2-4 stretch and folds. No matter what the bread will turn out. The amount of stretch and folds will determine how light and airy your bread is once baked.
Once the last stretch and fold is done and the dough has sat 1 more hour, use your bench scraper to scrape the dough onto a damp work surface. Remember we are only working with water now, no flour. Get your hands wet, and use your bench scraper to cut the dough in half.
With wet hands it's time to braid the dough. Fold the top of the dough 1/4 of the way down, then pinch the top left side of the dough and pull it to the center, take the top right side of the down and pull it to the center. Repeat this process like a braid all the way down the dough overlapping the pinched dough on top of each other. (If this is confusing, refer to the video in this blog post for an example).
At the base of the dough, start rolling the dough up like a cinnamon roll. Place the loaf of bread in your loaf pan and repeat the process with the other half of the sourdough. (I use silicone loaf pans. If you are using glass or stainless steel make sure you grease the pans or add parchment paper.)
Place the damp linen napkin over the loaves of bread and let them rise for 1 hour.
When 1 hour is almost up, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Add a stainless steel pan, filled half way with water, to the bottom rack of your oven. This will create steam while the bread bakes and helps the bread to rise.
Bake the bread for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then lower the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes.
Allow the 2 loaves of bread to cool for 10 minutes on the counter before taking them out of the pan.
Cool bread on a drying rack with a dry linen napkin draped over the top for at least 3-4 hours. Store bread in bread bags on the counter for 2 to 3 days. The refrigerator will dry out the bread. Bread can be frozen for up to 2 months.