MAKE THE PREFERMENT

1. Mix all the ingredients the night before (you will prepare the dough in the morning)

THE MIXING METHOD

1. If the berries are very dry, soak them for 10 minutes in filtered water. 
2. In a glass or plastic bowl, combine 430g of the water, psyllium husk flakes, honey, and extra virgin olive oil. Mix well and set it on the side. Once the psyllium husks absorb the water, this mixture will have a gel-like texture (it needs about 5 minutes).
3. In the meantime, combine all the dry ingredients, plus the cardamom and cinnamon, in a glass bowl. 
4. Now add the preferment to the psyllium husk gel. Add the remaining 20g of water to the preferment jar, shake and add everything to the gel mixture (this is to make sure you use all the preferment, it is a method I use for all my breads). Mix well with a spatula or wooden spoon. 
5. Add the preferment gel mixture to the dry ingredients bowl, add the berries, incorporate as much as possible with a spatula or wooden spoon, then start mixing with your hand. Mix well until the dough is homogeneous and has no lumps. The dough is soft and sticky.
6. Now you can start mixing with the silicone or plastic dough scraper, scraping the dough from the sides of the bowl, and folding it into the center. Rotate the bowl and repeat with the same movement for about 1 minute. 
7. Cover the bowl with a plastic cover, then wrap it in two extra big plastic bags and tighten the bags. From now on, the fermentation starts. I keep my bowl on the kitchen counter. Ideally, it needs a place where the temperature stays constant throughout the process. 

BULK FERMENTATION

1. Let it ferment for 40 minutes, depending on the temperature and humidity in your house. This is the timing for a temperature of about 21 degrees Celcius (71-72 degrees Fahrenheit). Teff, and specifically teff that is very dark, tends to have a very short fermentation time compared to sorghum and millet, so make sure you don’t over-ferment. 

SHAPING THE DOUGH

1. The video in the post will be very helpful here; please watch it before starting. Gently invert the dough on a working surface, dusted with just a tiny bit of flour. Gently lift one-third of the dough (the part away from you) and fold it on top of itself toward you. Then fold it one more time, so now what was on the bottom of the working surface is on top. Gently rotate the dough with your palms, so the bottom part will be sealed by the tension between the dough and the working surface. Everything you do must be gentle (I know, I keep repeating the word), don’t apply pressure on the dough, and treat it like something fragile). 

PROOFING THE DOUGH

1. Line a Banneton or proving basket with a towel and dust it with flour. Gently transfer the dough to the prooving basket with the sealed side facing upward (the smooth face down). Dust the top with flour, wrap it with a towel and cover it with a plastic cover. Because my house is pretty dry, I spray a little bit of water on the towel. Put everything in a plastic bag and tighten it. The proofing time will about the same as the bulk fermentation. At 72F, it will take about 40 minutes or even less. In the refrigerator, it will take about 2h. 
2. After transferring the dough to the proving basket, start preheating the oven with the Dutch oven and lid in it (at 250C/480F).

SCORING, TRANSFERRING TO THE OVEN AND BAKING

1. When the dough is proved, and your oven and cast iron are preheated, gently invert the dough from the basket to the middle of a parchment paper sheet. 
2. Dust the dough with sorghum flour and gently spread it on the surface of the dough with your palm. Have the razor ready for scoring. 
3. Now it’s time to carefully remove the cast iron and the lid from the oven, closing the door quickly. This is when you need to work pretty fast but be careful not to burn yourself. 
4. Make the scoring of your choice using the razor or the scoring blade (please check my suggestions in the post; keep it simple and easy in the beginning). After scoring, the dough must quickly go into the cast iron, be covered, and into the oven. 
5. Lift the dough with the edges of the parchment paper and gently lower it into the cast iron. Spray the dough with water to create steam, cover it with the lid, and put it back in the oven. Alternatively, you can throw an ice cube into the Dutch oven, but not on top of the bread, somewhere next to it, below the paper. 
6. Bake covered for 40 minutes. 
7. After 40 minutes, carefully remove the lid and bake for 40 more minutes. If your oven runs hot, check the bread after 30 minutes, and take it out if the crust starts to burn. Alternatively, you can slightly lower the temperature in the second part of the baking. 
8. Take the Dutch oven out, and carefully remove the bread. You can check the bottom for the hollow sound.
9. Let the bread rest on a cooling rack for at least 5 hours. I know it can be tempting, but don’t slice it earlier than 5 hours, as you will ruin the texture. For the best crumb, I recommend allowing it to rest overnight. 
10. Store the bread for 2 to 3 days at room temperature, in a paper bag, or wrapped in a cotton towel. The first and second day is great fresh, but from day 3, I prefer toasted. You can also slice it, separate the slices with parchment paper and freeze it. I thaw it in the toaster.