i’ve finally achieved a perfect loaf!

adjusted my recipe and tried out kneading, slap & folds and lamination and wow did it do wonders to my bread! this is the best spring i’ve ever gotten and such an airy crumb too! recipe and process: (makes 2 loaves)

160 g active starter at peak
530 g room temp water
800 g bread flour
20 g salt

mixed everything at 8:30am. mix starter and water, add flour and salt. mix until incorporated then knead by hand 5 mins until no dry bits. shape into ball and rest 30 mins. dough temped at 26 C during initial mix. take aliquot sample (i took 43 g as i only needed a 30% rise since my dough still temped at 26 C). knead again for 5 mins, shape into ball and rest 30 mins. 6x slap and folds or until dough feels tighter + smoother. rest 30 mins. laminate dough and shape into a ball. let rest for continuation of bulk fermentation. in my case my aliquot cup filled the top of the cup approx an hour after my lamination, which was at 11 am. my total BF time was 3.5 hrs, i let the proof go longer for an hour as i had to run a quick errand. split the dough into 2, then preshaped into balls. let rest 30 mins covered then djd final shape into an oval. placed in banneton, rest 5 mins then stitched dough. then let bench rest on counter for 30 mins before placing in fridge for 7 hrs. scored, sprayed loaf generously with water and baked in a metal roaster in convection oven on 450 F for 30 mins covered and 30 mins uncovered (no ice cubes). temped at 210 F when i took out of the oven. waited an hour to cut into. my most airy, light, tall, open crumb loaf i’ve made so far in my 3 months of baking!