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Bagels in NYC used to have those crispy fish scales on their surface but nowadays seem to be smooth and chewy - what has changed (is it because they are bigger or are they not proofed long enough) ?

Hi, long time reader, first time poster. Really struggling to get the hang of baking sourdough loaves. I've been baking pizza and focaccia with my starter for a while now with great success but the loafs are always a complete disaster. This time I was so happy with the strength of the gluten built up during bulk ferment but the loaf just completely fell apart in the final rise & bake.

Any guidance would be much appreciated!

My goals for the bake:

• Small loaf
• Fluffy, moderately open crumb
• Thin but crispy crust
• Avoid burnt bottom

Method:

• Dissolved starter in water, incorporated flour and left covered for 30 minutes
• Laminated, spread over the salt and gently kneaded for 2-3 minutes
• Bulk fermented with gentle coil folds every 30-45 minutes with wet fingers (probably added a decent amount of water to the dough in this way)
• Original plan was to ferment for 12 hours in the cool box but quickly realised it was fermenting faster than anticipated so did the final 6 hours in the fridge
• Poke test passed at 12 hours (dough was sticky but a gentle poke with a wet finger sprung back slowly leaving behind a small dent)
• Very gently shaped in a dusting of flour
• Struggled a little to seal it after shaping. With the slight dusting of flour it wasn't adhesive enough to stick properly so had to repeatedly squeeze the seals

• 12h final rise in the fridge
• Loaf stuck to the banneton slightly at once side so stretched itself long and thin when removing onto parchment
• Loaf was VERY soft and delicate - flattened within seconds of being removed from banneton

• Dusted off excess flour and spritzed with some water
• Scored with the sharpest blade I have but it was very sticky and the score re-sealed itself almost instantly
• Lowered into a cast iron pot which had pre-headed for 1h at the hottest my oven will go (c.240C)
• Turned down oven heat to 220C and baked with lid on for 15 minutes
• Removed from pot and baked on a rack for a further 15 minutes
• Pulled out a few minutes early as top was starting to burn
• Left to cool on a rack for 2 hours before slicing

Overall, I'm very disappointed with the result:

It is a misshapen flat mess. I wasn't expecting a huge, ballooned loaf because it wasn't a particularly big loaf relative to the size of the banneton so it was always going to be a bit long and short but this was not what I had in mind!

The crumb is very dense and gummy but with huge caverns within it.

The only area in which is was successful was I managed (for the first time) to avoid a burnt bum by removing it from the pot for the final stage. The crust is reasonably crispy without being too thick or tough too which is OK.

Is this just a case of badly over-fermented? I'm surprised that it over-fermented so much with just 3% starter and it mostly being fermented in the fridge.

Have I made any other glaring errors that I need to correct in order to reach my bake goals?

Here is a LINK for Famag Maintenance and Repair Videos.

https://pleasanthillgrain.com//famag-mixer-video-library

Any ideas why the Brotland Deutschland series by Franz Steffen is impossible to find on the market (at least from my searching)?  I would have thought this is a seminal series, which, though it might be expensive, is at least still out "there."  

Any ideas?