Leavener:

1. In the evening of the day before making the bread: Place the starter, flour and water in a small bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon until the flour is stirred in well.
2. Cover the bowl with a plate, or bees wrap, and set aside overnight in the oven with only the light turned on or in a proofing box (unless it is warm enough in your kitchen to proof it on the counter at room temperature)

Prepare the Oats:

1. Pour rolled or flaked oats into a dry cast iron frying pan and place it over medium high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time. It takes about 7 minutes to toast the oats.
2. Transfer the toasted oats to a medium-sized bowl and pour boiling water over top. Cover with a plate or plastic wrap (to keep the moisture in), and leave overnight in the oven with the leavener.

Mix the dough In the morning of the day you will be making the bread:

1. When a small forkful of the leavener floats in a small bowl of room temperature water, you can go ahead and mix the dough. (my leavener never did float, but I used it anyway after 14 ½ hours.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift the whole wheat einkorn flour, reserving the bran for after shaping. (I didn’t sift the flour) Add the all-purpose flour, (wheat germ, malted wheat chops, if using), and flaxseed meal to the whole wheat flour. (Toasted oats mixture will be incorporated later). Stir with a wooden spoon. Set aside for a moment.
3. Weigh the salt and 25 grams water, whisking it together in a small bowl. Set this bowl aside in the oven with only the light turned on or leave on the counter if your kitchen is warm enough.
4. Mix the leavener with the 325 grams water to break it up. Pour the leavener/water mixture over the flour mixture. Using a dough whisk or wooden spoon, mix these ingredients together to make a rough dough. Cover the bowl with a plate or bees wrap and leave on the counter for about 30 minutes.
5. Adding the salt: Pour the salt mixture over the dough.

Kneading:

1. Use one of your hands to squoosh the salt and water into the dough; use the other hand to steady the bowl – this way you always have a clean hand. At first the dough might be a bit messy and seem like it’s coming apart. Persevere. Suddenly, it will seem more like dough than a horrible separated glop. Keep folding it over onto itself until it is relatively smooth. Cover with a plate, or bees wrap, and leave to rest for about 30 minutes.
2. Adding the oats and first stretching and folding: Add the oats on top of the dough. Turn the bowl as you fold and re-fold the dough into the center, to distribute the oats. Cover the bowl with a plate and leave on the counter (or if the kitchen is cool like ours in winter and spring, into the oven with only the light turned on).
3. Continuing to stretch and fold: Repeat the folding step about 3 times in all at 30-minute intervals. After the final fold, leave the covered bowl in a draft free area until the dough has almost doubled.

Pre-shaping:

1. Scatter a dusting of all-purpose flour on your work surface and gently place the dough on the flour.
2. Fold the dough over in half, gently patting off any extra flour that might be there. Turn the dough a quarter turn and fold in half again. Continue turning and folding in half until the dough is shaped in a ball.
3. Leave it seam side down on the work surface and cover with a large overturned mixing bowl (or a tea towel) and let rest for about 30 minutes.

Prepare the brotform:

1. Liberally coat the inside of a banneton proofing basket with rice flour.
2. Shaping and adding optional topping: Scatter a very light dusting of flour on top of the round. Gently press down with the palms of your hands to create a disc that is about 4 centimeters deep. Carefully turn the disc over. Without breaking the skin on the bottom, use the dough scraper to fold the dough in half. Turn the dough a quarter turn and continue folding until a ball is created. Leave it seam side down and use the sides of the dough scraper to tighten the dough ball further. Once it has been tightened, wet your hands and rub them gently over the top. Scatter quick oats overtop.
3. Now carefully put the shaped loaf seam-side UP into the brotform. Scatter the reserved bran evenly onto the seam area. Cover with the tea towel or an overturned mixing bowl and let sit for an hour or so to allow the loaf to almost double. “Almost” is the key here….
4. Alternately, place the loaf in the refrigerator for a cold ferment. This is what I did. I let the loaf proof on the counter at room temperature for about 45 minutes, then placed it in a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator. The next day, I took the loaf out of the fridge while the oven was preheating, scored it, and then placed it in the hot baker (on cornmeal-dusted parchment paper).

Preheating the oven:

1. To know when it’s time to bake, run your index finger under water and gently but firmly press it on the side of the bread. If the dough springs back immediately, recover the bread and leave it on the counter for another 15 minutes of so. If the dough gradually returns back after being pressed, leave the bread on the counter.
2. Put a baking stone on a lower shelf of the oven. Place a cast-iron combo cooker (or lidded casserole dish) on the middle shelf and preheat the oven (I set mine to 475F because my oven runs about 25 degrees lower).

Scoring:

1. When the oven is thoroughly preheated about 30-45 minutes later, transfer the round into the hot shallow pan of the combo-cooker. (I placed the loaf on cornmeal-dusted parchment paper and used it as a sling to transfer the loaf to the hot baker.)
2. Using a lame, sharp knife, or scissors, score the bread in the pattern of your choice. (Ludd and Fjeld score their toasted oats bread in a box-like pattern on top.)

Baking:

1. Transfer the loaf (on the parchment paper) to the hot shallow pan of the combo-cooker. Place the pan in the oven and cover with the lid.
2. Bake for 25-30 minutes with the lid on. After 30 minutes, remove the lid. Close the oven door and continue baking for another 20-30 minutes, until the crust is a lovely dark golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when knuckle-rapped on the bottom.

Cooling:

1. When the bread has finished baking, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool on a footed rack before slicing and eating; the bread is still cooking internally when first removed from the oven! If you wish to serve warm bread (of course you do), reheat it after it has cooled completely.
2. To reheat any uncut bread, turn the oven to 400F for 5 minutes or so. Turn the oven OFF. Put the bread into the hot oven for about ten minutes. This will rejuvenate the crust and warm the crumb perfectly.