I've been baking sourdough for about 2 months now and always had decent results. What im having trouble with is the oven spring and the final shape of the loaf. My starter is now about 3 months old and peaks with in 4-6 hours when fed 1:1:1 ratio. I feed it a mix of AP, whole wheat and rye.
For this bake I fed my starter straight from the fridge a ratio of 1:2.5:2 - I like it a little thick. It reached peak in about 9 hours
Recipe and process for this bake:
500gr flour (70gr whole wheat and 430gr 13% bread flour)
320gr warm tap water (I'm in Iceland, tap water is not an issue)
Mix together and autolyse for about 40 minutes
Add:
109 gr starter (that's just the amount that came out of the jar, i wasn't about to scoop it back in to make it an even 100)
40 gr warm tap water
12gr salt
Less than half a gram dry yeast (i know its cheating and makes this not a true sourdough, but I find it makes the bf more reliable)
Dimpling and pinch and folds for a few minutes until mixed together and pinch and folds for another few minutes until a cohesive dough is formed.
I move my dough to the laundry room that is about 28°c
I did stretch and folds twice 25 minutes apart and then coil folds twice 25 minutes apart.
I then left it to ferment for another 2 hours and 15 minutes. The dough had risen about 60-70% and was nice and jiggly and had bubbles forming on the surface.
I preshaped in the kitchen (temp about 20°c) and let it rest for 20 minutes before shaping into a boule placing it in a bannetton and into the fridge to ferment until morning.
This morning I heated the oven to 250°c, put the dough in for 6 minutes before scoring. Lowered the temp to 235°c and baked it while covered for another 20 minutes, removed the lid and baked for another 22 at 220°c
Cooled for 2 hours before cutting
The bread is delucious and I think the crumb is beautiful (although I could do with out the big holes). What I don't like is how it gets flat towards the ends and sides of the boule. Is it a fermentation issue, shaping issue or scoring issue? I'd appreciate any tips or advice you guys have