Levain:

1. Mix the water and starter together in a large bowl. Add in the flour and mix until completely hydrated. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 8 – 10 hours.

Final Dough:

1. Pour the water over the levain and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon or whisk to disperse.
2. Mix the flours with the rosemary and add it on top of the water/levain mixture. Hold the salt until after the autolyse.
3. Mix thoroughly using a Danish dough whisk or wooden spoon. Cover and let it rest (autolyse) for 20 – 30 minutes.
4. Sprinkle the salt over the top and dissolve it with the 25 grams of water. Use your fingers to pinch the dough to incorporate the salt evenly throughout.
5. Cover and let it bulk ferment for a total of 2 – 3 hours. Fold the dough every 45 minutes, for a total of 3 times, during the bulk ferment.
6. After the 3rd fold, place the dough back in the bowl and let it rest for 30 minutes. Make sure it is covered tightly and place it in the refrigerator overnight, or 8 – 10 hours.
7. The next day, remove the cold dough from the refrigerator and shape it into a tight batard, if making one large loaf, or two medium round loaves. Be sure to carefully degas the big air pockets, unless you want them, of course.
8. Place the shaped loaf in a lined proofing basket. I don’t have a liner to fit this particular banneton basket so I used a thin towel and it worked really well. Some of the rings actually came through.
9. Cover and place the basket in the refrigerator for 6 – 8 hours.
10. Place a baking stone or steel on the bottom shelf of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F. for at least 45 minutes. If you plan to use steam, place a steam pan on the top shelf.
11. When the oven is sufficiently preheated, remove the loaf from the refrigerator. Carefully invert the loaves from the banneton proofing baskets onto parchment paper or a heavily dusted peel. I’ve found that using a lined basket aids with this process. You just carefully peel off the liner after flipping it over onto the parchment.
12. Score the loaves in the pattern of your choice.
13. Slide them onto the preheated baking stone or steel and bake for 35 – 45 minutes. A larger loaf will take longer. When making one large loaf, I found it was easier to slide it in the oven using the back of a baking sheet. It was so heavy I was concerned I would drop it using the peel. I used a baking steel to bake all three of these loaves and the oven spring was tremendous on each one.