Great post! I too have been experimenting with an autolyse, after eating the incredible sourdough bread in Bastible restaurant in Dublin; they are even greater sourdough nerds than me, and were happy to share their methods. Thank you for explaining the science of autolyse so well.
I mix 275 ml water to 400g white bread flour, and in a separate bowl mix 150 ml water and 200g lively 50/50 starter to 50g wholemeal rye and 150g wholemeal bread flour. After an hour the white flour is autolysed and the other flours have kicked off the fermentation. I add 10g salt and mix everything together with my hands in the bowl. I do no kneading, just a few stretch and folds. In the morning the dough is a joy, coming easily into a ball on an unfloured work top. After a hour in the proving basket I put it into a cold Dutch oven and put in a cold oven, turning dial to max (about 240 C) for 45 minutes, then lid off for 15 minutes at 180 C.
This simple method is yielding fantastic results, great oven spring, open crumb, crisp caramelised crust and lovely flavour and aroma. (The cold pot and oven is another recent innovation for me, it works really well and is energy efficient)

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