Sort of successful but I'm back with a couple of questions. 1. On the first round with my sponge, My last feed of my starter had only been a couple of days, so, I used 8.5 oz of 2 day unfed starter. In the 4 hour rest at room temp before the refrigerator the sponge tripled. In the next 12 hours in fridge, it really didn't do much more, but, didn't deflate either. (OK?) 2. Next morning added flour, salt, sugar, kneaded it 8 min with the KA and again put it to rest for the 4 hours. Again, this went to almost to triple during the rise. Should I have taken this dough under control at the "doubled" size and proceeded to the final rise rather that waiting the 4 hours? 3. I took my tripled dough and folded it to collapse it a bit and then tucked and formed it into a single loaf and dropped it into my brotform. for the final 4 hour rise. My monster climbed out of the KAF brotform by about 3 inches and looked sort of like a big mushroom. I am guessing that I should have reigned this in, but, I wanted the full sour dough experience. 4. I floured my cloche and dropped the monster in the center and with floured hands again tucked and formed it into a boule shape and deliberately degassed it more that a little to get it under the bell. I put the cold cloche it into a 450 degrees oven for 40 minutes, then uncovered the cloche for 5 minutes. I was still a little shy of 190 so I gave it another 5 minutes and pulled the whole thing at about 199 (thermopen). My loaf had a really chewy texture and the crust was brown not burned. Now, you really need to use your teeth to eat this bread. It is moist, it is chewy, and not like jerkey, but, it is significantly tough if that is a word. My wife and I agree that it is good, but, not like anything we have made so far. Slices perfectly, makes a great sandwich, and toasted it is mindful of an English muffin in texture. The color of the bread itself is a browner color that the Rustic with the yeast which is I pretty white dough. I am guessing that the color (like a 20% whole wheat loaf) is due to the fermentation. Fascinating and delicious with butter. Please give me your opinion. Should I just let it run like this or should I start shortening the rise times to when the dough has doubled. This was fascinating. Should I have split it after the final rise or just gone with a sheet pan rather that degassing it and getting it to fit under the cloche. I know this is long, but, I am going to start this again later in the week because this loaf is being eaten at an alarming rate. thanks rch

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