Thought my crumb looked real pretty today :)

I posted a couple months ago, where I was dealing with an issue where my crumb was open but still felt "gummy." This is now my 9th sourdough attempt and I'm really happy with my progress on that front! I realized what I was trying to describe was more a high level of chewiness that was giving my bread a tacky and rubbery mouthfeel. Two things that have really helped were increasing hydration, and doing gentler upfront gluten development. This was really surprising for me; I had to spend a few attempts doing the opposite (low hydration and slapping the heck out of my dough) and getting worse results before I decided to try going the other way.

Anyway, I'm really very happy with it, buuuut if I'm going to be nitpicky, the crumb is still a touch irregular for my tastes. Does anyone have tips for getting more consistently sized holes? I was thinking of experimenting with some deliberate degassing during shaping?

Recipe:

400g flour (90% KA bread flour, 10% KA whole wheat), 73% hydration, 2% salt, 20% active starter

– autolyse 1 hr, started with warm water

– mix in starter, rest a few minutes

– add salt with some reserved water, pinch and fold gently until incorporated

– 3 stretch and folds, 1 coil fold, spaced 30 minutes apart

– bulk fermented 8.5 hours, preshape 20 minutes, counter proof 1 hour. Volume rise was maybe 75%? I don't have a straight sided container so I'm kinda guessing. I pushed BF pretty long because I wanted to bake same day.

– cold retard for 2.5 hours

– baked at 475F in preheated dutch oven for 25 min, then lid off and lowered to 425F for another 15-20 min. Cooled overnight.