Hello, Ron - I commiserate with your open crumb issue. One thing that caught my eye in your post was the diastatic malt and especially the amount. From what I've read one tablespoon seems excessive for one, and, perhaps even two loaves. I thought when I was researching this subject that diastatic malt might be the holy grail for perfect sourdough and, despite it being difficult to source (Canada), I finally located some. My one and only loaf made with this was a gummy disaster despite me using about one tsp. for a loaf. Since then I've discovered the flour I use (Roger's unbleached) actually contains this, so my purchase was all for naught. I haven't been into the sourdough experience nearly as long as you and I'm still in the experimenting stage. I don't have a proper dutch oven so that may be part of my problem.

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