Dan Lepard's Golspie Loaf

I made Dan Lepard’s Golspie Loaf from his Handmade Loaf book this weekend. It is 100% whole wheat except for the starter which the recipe says to do with either barley or rye flour. I actually did a whole wheat starter. A layer of coarse oatmeal (pinhead or steel cut) is on the crust and then it is baked in a round cake pan. The recipe instructs to score the loaf all the way through the dough to the bottom of the pan so that it can be pulled apart into sections after baking, but I did not score at all for fear of completely deflating what appeared to be a very wet and volatile dough. The recipe includes 3/4 teaspoon of fresh yeast, which I included because my starter didn’t seem very active at the time. However, Next time I will omit this and just use starter to see if it is really necessary or not.

I think I may have over-proofed after shaping because when I uncovered it and put it in the oven, the dough sank slightly. Despite this, my loaf turned out nicely and had a much more open crumb that I thought it would have and than what the picture in the book suggests. It also seemed to have a more open crumb than any other 100% whole wheat loaf I have ever made which was unexpected and reassuring.

Will post pictures.