Friend across the street used to make the best sourdough, moved across the country but left me some of their 17 year old starter. Forgot about it, thought I killed it and then decided to try my first sourdough loaf. Partner said 6/10. It was a bit spongy. But all in I’m proud of it!

This is the recipe I followed:
Levain = 50g active starter, 100g warm water, 50 g bread flour, 50g rye flour

Auto lyse = 800g warm water, 750 g bread flour, 250 g rye flour. mix with kitchen aid dough hook and let sit covered with tea towel for one hour. Then mix levain in and let rest for 10 min. Add salt and knead dough. Cover 10 min. Knead dough again final time.

Bulk ferment = place dough in lightly oiled bowl (this is where I think I went wrong as none of the videos I watched after showed using oil here) stretch and fold 4 times with 30
Minutes in between. After final stretch and fold perform coil fold and let rest 30 min

Pre shape/bench rest = remove from container and allow to rest on bench for 2 min. Cut in half and use bench knife to shape into round ball. (My ball was pretty sticky here and definitely did not look like the ones I saw online. More spreading then firm) let rest for 30 min

Cold proof = place balls into floured battards and cover with plate. Place in fridge for 16 hours:

Bake = place cast iron Dutch oven in oven at 475 degrees for one hour. Immediately remove 1 sourdough ball from fridge and place in Dutch oven. Score. Don’t burn your hand off when putting the lid back on… bake with lid on for 20 min. Removed lid and bake for another 25 to 30 min. (First loaf, pictured, I did 25 min and it was a bit spongy, second loaf I did 30 min and it was significantly darker but less spongy day after.) Remove let rest for 1 hour before cutting into it.

Definitely made some mistakes a long the way and thought several times that it was not going to turn out at all but I’m pretty happy with it!