Mix the active sourdough starter and warm water in a large bowl.

Add whole grain bread flour of choice, I use freshly ground hard white wheat.

Add your salt and stir with a wooden spoon. You are looking for dough that is not too dry pretty sticky actually, but can stay together.

Cover with a tea towel and set in a warm spot.

Let dough sit overnight for 8-12 hours for its bulk rise

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400Fº.

When the oven temperature is ready, set your Dutch oven with the lid on, in the oven and let it preheat for 10 minutes. (I use a cast iron dutch oven) but any dutch oven will work)

Flour a piece of parchment paper well, then gently scrape your dough out of the bowl onto it.

You will probably need to add more flour to the parchment to make sure it doesn't stick, just be really gentle when shaping.

The dough rest will leave you with a very sticky dough, so you will want a dough scraper as you do the process of moving your loaf of bread to the parchment paper.

You also want to make sure your work surface is floured well.

The next step is to make a slit across the top of the dough using a sharp knife or a razor blade.

Transfer the parchment paper with the shaped dough on it to the dutch oven.

Put the lid back on the dutch oven, and place it back in the oven for 50-55 minutes.

Pull the lid off after 55 minutes, and place a pan of water in the bottom of the oven (I use a 9X13 baking dish).

Bake for another 10-15 minutes uncovered. I promise you will not regret making this bread, at all. It is SO easy and gives you the artisan bread taste with little to no work.

Transfer to a cooling rack, and let it cool for about 20-30 minutes before cutting into it.