The Sourdough Experiments: A real rise at last!

What you are witnessing is a triumph for the "F*ckit Principal". In which your humble chef announced, "F@ckit. I'm doing it my way."

Steps to making the perfect loaf, according to Kraz:

1. Precisely weigh the flour and water - 1 kilogram of flour and 700g of water
2. Allow an hour between stretches and foldings because this was wholemeal and wholemeal is S-L-O-W
3. Follow the steps up to the bulk rise, which was in our criminally cold minifridge
4. Accidentally freeze the dough (not necessary!)
5. Allow the dough to return to room temperature
6. Allow the dough to get huge
7. One last stretch and fold before putting all the dough into an improvised proofing basket [because 1.7kg of dough!]
8. Prep the Dutch Oven
9. Stretch, fold, and shape after this one proof, then transfer to the parchment
10. Slice and place into Dutch oven and bake according to instructions

According to the instructions, this was all wrong. I still managed to produce a voluminous loaf that did not turn out to be a sod. I am taking this win.

I'm not making this big a loaf again, though.

I will be dividing my dough in future. One proof after the bulk rise is apparently the win.

Next bread day, I shall be experimenting with loaf pan versus no loaf pan. I have a good technique that gives lots of rise, so now I see if I get a flatty loaf without a pan to help hold it up.

The moral of this story is - every sourdough bread is your sourdough bread. You do it your way.