Sour dough loaf

 I am really enjoying making bread at the moment and i wanted to try and make an authentic sour dough. This does take a bit of time but is simple.  Before even starting to make the bread the night before you need to make a batter sponge

Ingredients for batter sponge
250g strong wholemeal flour
300ml of water
1 1/2 ladels of starter (recipe for the starter is at the bottom of this post)

mix well, cover and leave over night

The next morning you need to mix into the sponge the following and need for 10 mins dont skimp on the needing.

300g strong wholemeal flour
25g salt

leave to rise for 1 hour making sure it is covered, it wont have changed to much but knock it back and form it into a ball again you will need to do this 4 times each time it will get a little bigger the slower the rise the more flavour develops in the bread

on the final rise get the oven on its hottest setting with a small roasting pan at the bottom, when the bread is ready to go in and the oven temperature reached put you bread in and add a little boiling water in the pan at the bottom of the oven to create steam and a nice crust to the bread. Cook at the high temperature for 10 mins only then turn the oven down to 200c for 30 - 40 mins longer the bread should sound hollow when tapped ion the bottom leave to cool on a baking rack so you dont get a soggy bottom.