• 6-12 hours (at least 6-8 hours in warmer months, 10-12 in cooler months) before you make your dough, mix together 60 grams of all-purpose flour (7 T.) and 60 grams of water (1/4 cup) with 20 grams of sourdough starter (about 1 T.) in a glass jar or clean container. Let this sit at room temperature to become active for 6-12 hours.
• Scaling: Start by adding 350 grams of water to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Follow the water with the active sourdough starter and all the flour. Hold off on other ingredients.
• Initial Mix: Mix the water, starter, and flour together using a spoon or a dough hook attachment, if using a stand mixer. Tip: Do not overmix! Once there is only a little bit of dry flour and dough is mostly come together, use a rounded plastic dough scraper to scrape the sides of the bowl and finish mixing the last bits of dry flour into the bread dough. Be sure to check under the dough and the sides of the dough for dry flour.
• Autolyse: Cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap or a cloth and let the dough rest for 20-60 minutes to help the dough strengthen and develop better elasticity.
• Final Mix: After the dough autolyse time is complete, add the salt and the 10g* reserved water to the dough. Knead and fold the salt and water into the dough until it is completely incorporated. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes before adding the inclusions during the first stretch and fold.
• During the autolyse, prepare the jalapeño and cheddar cheese.
• Drain the can of jalapeño slices and set aside.
• Shred the cheese and set aside, you won't use all of it yet. Place 40 grams (heaping 1/4 cup) of the shredded cheddar cheese and the drained jalapeño slices in the center of the dough.
• Take the dough in hand and, one quarter turn at a time, pull the dough upward, then fold back into the middle. Repeat with the other three quarters. Continue folding until the cheese and jalapeños are well incorporated. Recover the dough or transfer to a dough bin.
• ​Cover the rest of the cheese and place in the fridge until the final shaping.
• Suggested step: After 30 minutes, you can do more sets of stretch and folds.
• The bulk fermentation time (or first rise) begins as soon as the starter is added to the dough, which happened at the time of the initial mix. It will take 5 to 7 hours at room temperature to complete the bulk. To do a cold ferment, place dough in the fridge. The cold bulk ferment will take 24 to 72 hours.
• Pre-Shape: Transfer the dough to an unfloured surface. Use a dough scraper or bench knife to quickly push under one end of the dough and fold it over the top of the rest of the dough. Then, push the scraper under one side of the dough and rotate in a circular motion for 3 to 5 turns until it's a round shape. You want to tuck the ends of the dough under the whole to create a smoother, round shape.
• Bench Rest: Let the rounded dough rest for 20 to 30 minutes. Prepare the proofing bowl (banneton) with a dusting of rice flour or all purpose flour, set aside.

Final Shaping

• Final Shape: After the bench rest lightly flour the rounded top of the dough and gently rub the flour over the top until there is no sticky dough exposed on top. Then complete the following series of folds:
• Take the bench knife or straight edge of a dough scraper and zig zag it under the dough to pick it up then flip it over with the flour side down.
• Gently pick up the edges and stretch the dough by jiggling until it's about 7 to 8 inches wide.
• Place the remaining 30 grams of shredded cheddar cheese in the middle of the dough, then pick up the left and right edges of the dough and fold over the cheese to slightly overlap. Pinch together to seal the seam.
• Taking the end of the dough below the seam, gently lengthen the dough, then roll it onto itself in a spiral until it seals at the opposite end. The seam should be inside the rolled up dough with the smooth floured side facing up.
• Without flipping the dough over, use the bench knife or straight edge of the dough scraper and pull the dough across the work surface or rotate it in a circle until it tightens into a tight ball. Continue tightening in order to create surface tension until you begin to see cheese under the top part of the dough.
• Use the bench knife or straight edge of the dough scraper to pick up the ball of dough then flip it smooth floured side down into the prepared proofing bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
• Let the shaped dough rise at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours or place in the fridge for a cold proof for 8 to 12 hours. Monitor the proof (also known as second rise) until the dough is 1.5 to 2 times larger in volume. Once the dough has risen to the top of the proofing bowl, and a finger pressed into it leaves an indentation.
• Near the end of the proof, preheat the oven with the Dutch oven to 500 degrees F.
• Once the oven is preheated, take a long piece of parchment paper and place parchment paper over the top of the proofing bowl. Hold the parchment over the edges of the bowl then quickly flip the bowl upside down so that the smooth top is facing up.
• Use a bread lame or serrated bread knife to score the top of the dough so there's a 1/8 to 1/4-inch deep cut across the top. Pick up the edges of the parchment and lift the scored bread dough into the preheated Dutch oven. Place the lid snugly on top to seal the dough inside then carefully place in hot oven.
• Reduce oven temperature to 450 degrees F and bake for 20 minutes.
• After 20 minutes, remove the bread from the Dutch oven (or remove manual steam element) and place directly on the oven rack to complete baking for 15-20 minutes until the crust is golden brown to brown with crisp bubbling cheese.
• Once your loaf is baked, place it on a cooling rack to cool down. Let the bread cool for one hour.