I bake roughly 100 loaves of sourdough bread per week. I sell them at two farmers markets in Poughkeepsie, NY. I follow this procedure: 1) feed sourdough a few times per week. 2) The night before mixing the dough, make a sponge. That is, take some starter, mix it with some water, and some flour. Mix until it is a cohesive mass. Let the sponge rise overnight. 3). Measure the main flour into a mixer bowl. Add the water and use a spatula to mix it in. Scrape the sponge into the mixer bowl on top of the mixed flour and water. 4) Fit the mixer bowl to the mixer and install the dough hook. Set the speed to two on a Kitchenaid. (I use speed one on a 30 quart mixer). Mix until the dough releases from the sides of the bowl. 5) At this point, you can refrigerate the dough for up to three or four days. When you are ready to resume, measure in the salt. Also at this time you may add to the dough any “inclusions” you may think of. I have an Olive-Rosemary sourdough and several other flavors. Still using the dough hook, knead the relaxed dough for 1 minute. Depending on your inclusions you may knead for another 30 seconds to make sure the inclusions are distributed evenly throughout the dough. 6) After the machine knead, I like to hand knead the dough as well. 30 double strokes (using left and right hands) usually suffices. After that, my dough goes back into the fridge for another overnight, or for a minimum of six hours. 7) Divide the mass of dough into loaves. Form each loaf into a rough ball. Cover with plastic wrap. I leave the rough ball to relax for 18 minutes. Then I give the ball a few swipes between my cupped hands to firm it up. I set this firm ball on a parchment-lined plate, and cover it with plastic. It will rise several hours in my 68 degree kitchen. 8). When the loaf is nicely risen (touch the loaf with your finger. If it seems like there is a bit of air under the top dough, you are ready to bake. Use a bread lame to make a few cuts into the top of the dough. Spray the loaf with water. Sprinkle with kosher or sea salt. Set your timer for 16 minutes. Use your peel to slide the parchment-lined loaf into your 500 degree oven. Within a minute or two, reduce the temperature to 425. Within the first 5 or 7 minutes, spray the loaf with water a couple times. I like to rotate and switch the positions of the three loaves in my oven at this time, usually after the second spray. Leave the loaf there until the timer beeps. This is a great time to rotate your loaf one more time. Reduce the oven temperature to 400. Bake the loaf without peeking for 12 more minutes. Remove it from the oven and measure the internal temperature. You are looking for 210 degrees. If it hasn’t reached that temperature or you would like a little more color on the loaf, feel free to return the loaf for a few more minutes. Check out The Educated Chef on Google.

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