Ingredients:

• 500g bread flour
• 300g water
• ~100g smashed banana (1 medium banana)
• 100g active starter
• 60g instant vanilla pudding mix, dry (get the family size box, 144g)
• 11g salt

Inclusions:

• Remaining vanilla pudding mix + 2/3 cup cold milk (I used 2%)
• Crushed and whole vanilla wafers
• Sliced banana (1-2 depending on how big they are)

In a large mixing bowl, add your starter, water, and mashed banana. Stir until milky. Next add your flour and dry pudding mix. Mix with a spoon until a shaggy dough forms. Then continue mixing by hand until all flour is incorporated. This is a stickier dough because of the pudding mix. Cover and set aside for 1 hour. Measure your salt into a separate dish, and set near your mixing bowl to add later.

After 1 hour, add salt and perform your first round of stretch and folds. Cover and rest again for 30-45 minutes. Perform three more stretch and folds or coil folds (personal preference) spaced 30-45 minutes apart.

After final fold, cover and continue to bulk ferment until the dough has grown ~75%. I used a glass bowl with measurement lines to help me tell when the dough has increased the appropriate amount.

While your dough is rising, prepare your remaining pudding mix by adding what is left (~69g) to a medium mixing bowl with 2/3 cup of cold milk. Whisk together for a couple of minutes. Then cover and refrigerate to firm it up some. It will be thicker than normal pudding consistency.

Once your dough has risen the appropriate amount, lightly mist your counter and dump your dough out. Spread it gently into a wide rectangle, being careful not to tear it. Spread some prepared pudding a across the rectangle. You don’t want to put it on too thick because it can weigh down the dough and ooze out during shaping. Then roughly crush some vanilla wafers and sprinkle them across the dough. Add banana slices across your rectangle. Next you will trifold the dough. Add more pudding, vanilla wafers, and banana slices. Then roll the dough log up tightly, pinching the sides as you go to keep all the good stuff inside. Using cupped hands, pull the dough towards yourself to create surface tension, being careful not to tear it. If it does start to tear, quickly get it into your banneton before the filling leaks out.

Transfer your dough seam side up to a rice flour dusted banneton or tea towel lined bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 12-24 hours (I usually do overnight).

Preheat your oven and dutch oven to 450F. Remove your dough from the fridge after the oven is preheated. Flip onto parchment paper or a bread sling, dust with rice flour, and score. Bake in your dutch oven covered for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid and lower the heat to 400F. Bake at 400F for an additional 25 minutes, or until internal temperature is 205-210F. Cool for at least 2 hours before cutting.

Storage: Keep this loaf refrigerated in an airtight container, and consume within 3-5 days.