In a mixing bowl, add the water, starter, flour, and salt and mix everything until combined. Cover with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.
2. After 30 minutes uncover and wet your hands to begin lifting the dough up and down towards the center working in a circle around the bowl until you have worked all the dough back into a tight ball. Cover again and let rest 5 hours or until double.
3. Once the dough is double in size and slightly jiggly, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Using your hands, work the dough into a rectangle shape, fold it over itself in threes, and shape and roll it into a ball. You can cup your hands around the edge of the loaf on the opposite side of you and drag it across the counter towards you, creating tension in the top of the loaf. (You don't want it to tear, just create tension)
4. If you don’t have a sourdough baton, use a clean tea towel, generously flour it, and place the floured towel inside a mixing bowl with taller edges. I also flour the top of the sourdough before putting it into the towel-lined bowl with the smooth side down to help keep it from sticking to the towel.
5. Cover with a damp kitchen towel or cling wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight. You can leave it in the refrigerator for up to 36 hours.
The next day, turn the sourdough loaf out carefully onto parchment paper and preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
While the oven heats up, lightly flour the top of the loaf and score in your design. (rice flour works best for this, but I use all-purpose) Use a lame to cut a pattern into the top. You can use string to mark out your pattern, or you can eyeball it. Other tools that work for designs are kitchen scissors, kabob sticks to poke little holes, or a sharp new razor blade if you don’t have a lame. Scoring helps the way your bread rises in the oven. Not scoring your loaf can result in the loaf breaking and might affect the look, and texture of your bread. It may also result in unwanted bulges and blowouts in your loaf. Scoring creates a weak point in the dough where water in the form of steam can escape. You need one primary cut, this needs to be the largest and deepest opening you make. The rest is pretty much decorative.
Gently pick up the parchment paper with the sourdough and place it in a Dutch oven. I put mine in a cold Dutch oven, some chose to heat the Dutch oven beforehand. This is a personal choice.
Bake for 40 minutes, remove the Dutch oven lid, and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
Let the loaf cool for a minimum of 2 hours before you slice into it. The starches are still in the process of setting and cutting bread too soon can result in a gummy and uneven texture.
You can store your bread in a bread bag. I like to keep mine in the refrigerator for up to a week, or in the freezer for longer. You can keep it on the counter, but since there are no preservatives, it can dry out quickly.