Thank you for publishing this article. Too many people follow over-complicated recipes instead of thinking through the basic principles underlying common practices. Maura’s method is my usual process. I just don’t see the point of arranging my weekend (which is when I bake) just so that I can babysit my bread dough! I don’t use a preferment and I prefer to used week old refrigerated starter that takes a while to wake up in order to slow down the bulk rise a bit. My one major difference from Maura’s method is that I will use a TINY amount of starter as an inoculation of the culture: maybe 5 or 10 g starter for 1000g flour (usually up to 30% whole grains). That’s because my home is often quite warm and my biggest risk is over proofing. In summer, I forego AC and in winter my 1943 apartment building with old fashioned steam heating is about 80F (not under my control). I’ll mix in late evening, wait for an hour, do 3 stretch and folds over the next hour, then let bulk rise overnight about 7-8 hours more. I shape at around 70% rise (very approximately) the next morning, then the dough goes into bannetons in the refrigerator for about 8-12 hours cold proof before I bake in the evening. It works. Any bread dough is just a larger volume sourdough culture after all. Following the bulk rise using an aliquot is also helpful, so as not to overproof.

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