Combine all the ingredients mentioned under the soaker together until the flour is hydrated and mix well to form a ball of dough. I needed about a cup of water instead of the ¾ cup, but this could change from flour to flour. So start with ¾ cup of water and then add more as you go.

Cover the bowl loosely with plastic and leave it at room temperature for 12-24 hrs.

If you are making the bread later than 24 hrs, then place the soaker in the refrigerator and take it out 2 hrs before making the final dough. This will keep good in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl, Knead it well for about 2 minutes to form a ball of dough. Again this could use up more liquid than the mentioned ¾ cup.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 8 hrs or up to 3 days.

Remove the biga from the refrigerator 2 hrs before you make the dough. At this time you might notice that the biga is rising a little bit.

Using a dough scraper, divide the biga and the soaker in to 12 smaller pieces and place them in the bowl of the stand mixer. You could knead the final dough by hand as well, but the dough might be tacky and a little difficult to handle. So I would suggest using the mixer or the food processor.

Add all the remaining ingredients mentioned (except the flour) in to the bowl and using the dough hook start kneading it. Knead for about 5 mins and then let it rest for about 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes start kneading again and at this stage add extra flour (if absolutely needed) to the dough and knead again for 4-5 minutes. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl but should be soft and slightly sticky. It is really important that you do not add more flour than it is necessary.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

Let it rise in room temperature until almost doubled in size (about 1 ½ hrs).

Now turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and shape into a loaf to fit your tin. For shaping the dough, see my step by step pictures here.

Place your loaf into a greased and floured tin. I used a 9 x 5 loaf tin.

Let it rise until the dough is slightly taller the loaf tin (about 45 mins to 1 hr).

Bake the loaf in a preheated 350 F oven for about 45 mins to an hour, until the top is nicely browned and leaf sounds hollow when tapped.

As soon as the loaf comes out of the oven, I brushed it with some melted butter to give it a softer crust.

Let the loaf cool down completely in a wire rack for at least 2 hrs before slicing the bread. DO not even attempt to slice the bread when warm because it remains very wet in the center (Experience speaks here).