Before beginning, please note that the dough will need to rise at room temperature until increased 80% in volume – for me this is typically 5-7 hours. After that it will need to ferment overnight in the refrigerator before being baked.

In a large mixing bowl combine starter, water, oil, and honey and stir well until completely combined.

Add flour, sprinkle salt overtop, and work dough together with your hands or a wooden spoon until it is mostly combined. Dough will be shaggy but should not have any dry patches of flour remaining.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for an hour undisturbed (autolyse).

Once the hour has passed, sprinkle the top of the dough with shredded cheese and jalapenos.

Stretch and fold: Grasp one side of the dough and stretch it up and then fold it over the opposite side of the dough. Turn your dough 90 degrees and repeat this again three more times, for a total of four stretch and folds. (It’s okay if the jalapenos and cheese are not well distributed at this point, they will become more evenly distributed as we do more stretch and folds.)

Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes. Stretch and fold your dough again as described above. Repeat every 30 minutes until you have done a total of four stretch and folds. After the final stretch and fold, cover dough and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place until it has increased about 80% in size (this will likely take 5-7 hours).

Once dough has risen, lightly oil a medium-sized bowl and place dough into bowl, tucking the ends under to create surface tension on the dough. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight (up to 24 hours).

The next day, preheat your oven to 450F (230C). Remove dough from refrigerator, turn it out onto a large piece of parchment paper (you’ll want the parchment to be large enough that when placed in the dutch oven you have enough going up the sides to pull the bread out), and lower dough into 4 quart Dutch oven. Score the top of the bread (see note if you want to add jalapenos and cheese on top – don’t add them here). Allow the dough to rest in the Dutch oven while the oven preheats.

Once oven is preheated to 425F (230C), cover the dough with the lid and place in oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake for another 23 minutes longer (the internal temperature should reach 205).

Remove from oven and allow bread to sit in the dutch oven for 10-15 minutes before carefully using the parchment paper to lift it out of the Dutch oven and remove to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing and enjoying.