Today's loaf, Rye country bread

I thought I'd list all the steps associated with making two loaves of this rye bread. If you don't have a levain/sourdough culture, you can substitute 1g of instant dry yeast (a bit less than 1/4 tsp) for the levain, up the white flour from 600g to 725g, and up the water from 684g to 700g.

7:30am, levain feeding:
Each day the levain gets fed. Today is no different. I throw away all but 100 grams of the levain. 100 grams is not very much and is little more than the remains which line the bottom of the bucket. The bucket weights 405 grams empty, so 505 grams is what I aim for. I add 400 grams of white flour, 100 grams of whole wheat flour, and 500 grams of water and hand mix everything together until all the flour is hydrated. The water was left out in a pitcher overnight so the chlorine dissipates. I measure 500 grams of it into a separate container and microwave it for 20 seconds to bring the temperature up to about 82F degrees or so. I want my final temperature of the levain after mixing to be about 78-79F degrees. I put a cover on the bucket and store the levain in the warmest spot in my kitchen.

3pm, autolyse:
The autolyse is pretty simple. You just mix the flour and water that will eventually be used to make the dough about 20-30 minutes prior to adding the yeast and salt. I'm using 600g of white unbleached a/p flour and 275g of dark rye flour with 684g of water @ 85F. I mix inside a big 12 qt polycarbonate tub by hand until the flour is hydrated and cover for 30 minutes.

3:30pm mixing:
8 hours after my levain's last feeding, it has doubled in size and smells a bit like beer. It's now ready to be used to leaven the bread. I sprinkle 22g of fine sea salt over the dough and add 225g of my levain. Everything is mixed by hand and everything needs to be well incorporated, so I'll spend about 3 minutes or so squeezing and folding the dough until everything is well mixed. A cover goes on the tub after everything is mixed.

4pm first folding:
This dough will get 3 folds. I simply run a wet hand under the dough and pick about 1/3rd of it up and stretch it to just prior to the point of tearing and fold it over the rest of the dough. I'll go around the tub and repeat this process about 5 times before flipping the dough over. The rye flour makes this dough pretty fragile, so I can't stretch it as much as usual before the dough starts to tear. After folding I cover the tub and I'll repeat this process 2 more times in 30 minute intervals.

6:30am dividing the loaves for proofing:
I use care when moving the dough from the tub to the table. I don't want to lose any more bubbles in the dough than I have to. The dough is divided in half, formed into balls, and placed inside two proofing baskets. If you don't have proofing baskets, you can line a bowl with cheesecloth and flour it well. The proofing baskets are covered with a plastic bag. I will proof these loaves for about 4 hours at room temperature.

11am baking:
I will preheat my oven to 475F with my two dutch ovens inside for about 30 minutes. The loaves get inverted from the proofing baskets and placed inside the dutch ovens with the lids on. I'll bake them for 30 minutes with the lid on, and another 20 with the lids off. The loaves get removed from the dutch ovens immediately after baking and will be ready to eat after about 10-20 minutes of cooling.