Four Seeds Multigrain Sourdough - Take 2

I wasn’t happy with the rise I got the last time I did this. Thinking back on it, I think the loaves were already over proofed when I put them into the fridge. I remember poking them and the imprint sort of staying there. It was late at night and I wasn’t thinking things through. I probably should have baked them right then and there but being late, and they really hadn’t risen a lot, I thought they could wait. This time round, I changing up a few things:

1. Give the levain a good feeding each time and retard it for 24 hours.
2. Reduce the hydration by 50 g and skip the diastatic malt. 
3. Do 100 initial slaps and folds to get the gluten going.
4. Don’t proof the loaves on the counter after shaping. Put straight into the fridge.
5. And I am going to go back to my rustic tearing of the dough by proofing seam side down. 

Recipe 

Makes 3 loaves 

Soaker

50 g sunflower seeds

25 g sesame seeds

25 g chia seeds

50 g old fashioned oats (large flake)

150 g hot water 

Dough

50 g buckwheat flour (mill 50 g of buckwheat groats)

100 g high extraction rye flour (mill 125 g of rye berries)

200 g high extraction red fife flour (mill 250 g of red fife berries)

650 g unbleached flour 

50 g freshly ground flax

12 g vital wheat gluten 

725 g filtered water at 85F 

35 g yogurt 

22 g salt

200 g bran 3 stage levain and retarded 24 hours

Three days before:

1. Before bedtime, take 5 g of your refrigerated starter and feed it equal quantities of filtered water and unbleached flour. Let it activate for the rest of the night.

Two days before:

1. In the morning, feed your levain 16 g each of filtered water and unbleached flour.
2. During the day or at night, mill the grains (red fife, rye, buckwheat) and sift out the bran for the red fife and the rye. I ended up with 55 g of bran which is a lot more than my previous shot at this recipe. I think I may not have sifted the bran as thoroughly. 
3. Grind the flax seeds in a bullet.
4. Weigh the high extraction (sifted) flours needed and place in a tub. To the tub, add the vital wheat gluten and the ground flax. Stir well to distribute the VWG, cover, and reserve.
5. Weigh the bran and the extra high extraction flour for the levain. You will need 89 g of the bran and extra sifted flour. If you are short, make up the rest with unbleached flour. I had to add 9 g of unbleached flour to make up the total. I always make a bit more levain than needed because some always gets left stuck to the walls of the container.
6. Before going to bed, add 89 g of water and the 89 g of bran/extra flour mix to the starter, and let sit overnight.

 One day before:

1. In the morning, place your levain in the refrigerator and leave it for 24 hours.

Dough making day:

1. In the morning, stir the levain and place in a warm spot. Let it rise 25%.
2. At the same time, add 725 g of warm water to the flour tub, mix until all the flours are hydrated, and autolyse for 3 hours or until the levain is ready. 
3. Toast the seeds and oats for the soaker in a dry frying pan and soak them in the hot water. 
4. Once the levain is ready, add the salt, the yogurt and the levain, and mix well to integrate. Do 100 slaps and folds and let rest 30 minutes in the oven with the lights on and the door cracked open (~82F). 
5. Do one set of 8 stretches and folds. Place back in the warm spot for another 30 minutes.
6. Do another set of folds in the tub and then take the dough out of the tub onto a barely damp counter. Spread the dough out in a large rectangle and sprinkle with part of the toasted seed mixture. Fold the dough into envelope folds and sprinkle more seeds on the bare spots. Do gentle sleeping ferret (coil) folds until the seeds are well integrated. Place the dough back into the tub, cover and place back into the warm spot. Wait 30 minutes. 
7. Do another 2 sets of folds 30 minutes apart. At this point the dough should be holding its shape for a while after folding. Let rest. Bulk fermentation is done when you can see some small and large bubbles on the surface. The dough had risen 50% at this point and took a total of about 4 and a half hours. 
8. Remove the dough from the tub into a bare counter. Sprinkle flour over the dough and divide into 3 equal portions of about 775 g. Sprinkle a bit more flour over the portions and round the boules using a bench knife. Let rest 15-20 minutes. 
9. Shape tightly into boules and place seam up into rice floured bannetons. Cover and place in a cold fridge (38F) to proof overnight.

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the dutch ovens inside for at least 45 minutes. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, score the boules with scissors , and gently place the dough seam side down inside. 
2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, drop the temperature to 425F, and bake for another 22 minutes.

Well the oven spring is only marginally better. I wonder what it is with my recipe that prevents it from getting decent oven spring. Is there too much rye and buckwheat? It looked like decent gluten development... Did I overproof it again by being in the fridge for just over 12 hours? I am going to check the temperature of the fridge. Nope, temp is 38.1 F. I was very careful during shaping not to deflate the dough. I went back to pulling the corners out, folding to the middle and then rolling the dough up. I am at a bit of a loss. 

Going to try one more thing... I am going to heat the oven to 500F and see what happens with the second batch of 6.