To a medium bowl, add bread flour, rye flour, and salt. Mix it with your hands.
Then add the sourdough starter and water.
Mix the dough so that all of the flour is hydrated. Then let the dough rest, covered, for an hour.
Bulk fermentation
Then perform three sets of “stretch and folds” spaced out by 30 minutes. Once you’ve finished the stretch and folds, move the dough to a proofing container.
Level the top. Mark where the top of the dough is and where your target rise is.
If you’re proofing warm, your target rise should be 25%; if you’re proofing at room temperature, it should be 50%.
Divide and shape the dough
Once the dough has grown, divide the dough into equally sized pieces.
Using your scraper, pre-shape both doughs into balls. Let the balls rest for 20 minutes.
Then shape both loaves into boules or batards. After you’ve shaped the loaves, put them into bannetons.
Then put it in the fridge to retard, for at least 8 hours and up to 72 hours.
Bake the bread
Heat your oven to 230°C/450°F with a dutch oven inside.
Grab a loaf from the fridge. Dust the bottom with rice flour to help the loaf slide off the peel easily.
Flip the loaf onto the peel, and score it. Then add it to the dutch oven, and bake for 20 minutes.
Then prepare the second loaf. Move the first loaf out of the dutch oven to the side.
Add the second loaf to the dutch oven and put on the lid. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the first loaf from the oven.
After 10 more minutes, remove the top of the dutch oven and finish the second loaf with 10 more minutes.
If you prefer a lighter crust, you can bake with the lid on for 30 minutes instead of this method.
Take the second loaf out, and let them both come to room temperature.
Freeze each loaf in a ziplock bag for up to 3 months.
How to finish your loaf out of the freezer
Heat your oven to 150°C/300°F. Once the oven is hot, add the frozen bread and let it heat for 10 minutes. We want the bread to thaw a little.
Then heat the oven to 230°C/450°F. Brown the bread to your liking. I like mine dark, so I bake for about 20 minutes.
Then take out the bread. Beware! The center of the bread is still frozen or at least very cold. Leave it to come up to temperature, or extend the thawing phase in the oven to 30 minutes if you need it faster.
How to finish your thawed loaf
Heat your oven to 230°C/450°F. Then add the loaf, and bake until it’s to your liking. I find that 20 minutes work well for me.
Then take it out of the oven. You can serve it right away. You already did the necessary cooling before you froze the loaf.