Frozen Product, needs to be thawed before baking
THAW YOUR LOAF
Remove your sourdough from the plastic wrap, keeping it in the cardboard container.
Place in the fridge and cover the loaf with a wet tea towel to prevent it drying out.
Leave overnight to defrost.
Cheat sheet: Thawing
MIN – Forgot to defrost it last night? Your loaf needs to thaw and prove for a minimum of 3 – 6 hours on a bench. (Depending on the room temperature)
PRE HEAT
Pre heat your oven to 220 Degrees
Pre heat your oven tray
If your loaf has been thawing in the fridge, take it out now and bench rest it while your oven is heating.
Once your oven is at temperature, remove your oven tray from the oven, place on a heat-proof surface.
Baking Tray: Place baking paper down to avoid your loaf sticking. Place your defrosted loaf on the tray by tipping it out of the cardboard container, topside down onto the hot tray/stone.
Take a small bowl of water and a basting brush and coat the loaf with water.
SCORE
Take your sharpest kitchen knife (or lame), hold it on an angle and score your loaf by cutting your loaf from end to end, roughly down the centre line.
The cut should be around 1 cm deep, on an angle.
This is best done in one movement in a slight crescent shape.
Ideally the knife is sharp enough that it doesn’t grab, pull or tear the loaf.
Cheat sheet: Scoring
Imperfection is beauty! Don’t fret over the exact depth or shape of your cut; just try it out. You will perfect your technique as you go. Seeing the baked result at the end each time will help you decide what you want to try differently next time.
BAKE
Place your oven tray/stone and loaf on the middle rack in the oven.
Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown
Cheat sheet: Time
MIN and MAX – Oven temperatures may vary, you may have a hot spot in your oven or it may struggle to get to temperature.
Your sourdough is fairly resilient, so you can bake it low and slow to some degree or high and fast to some degree.
Judge by eye how golden or dark you prefer the outside of the loaf
EAT
Remove the loaf from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Allow the loaf to cool for 1-2 hours before cutting into it.