okay, so i just popped a couple of  pain sur poolish boules in the oven. i say boules but by the time they got to the oven, they in no way resembled boules! i had them proofed in a make-shift banneton overnight. when inverting them on to my black grill tray, they stuck to the cloth and came out flat. i still scored (i have a new small sharp serrated knife i am trying out), into hottest oven with steam. i think they still got decent oven spring considering (i just had a peek) but they are still flat compared to the perfect round ball shape i am after. i will try and make sense with my questions:

OVEN SPRING:

• best way to achieve this? i thought i'd try underproofing, how do i judge this?
• how does scoring affect this? the reason i ask is because i scored each boule differently and one got better oven spring. with this one i slanted the knife towards that edge while scoring and the opposite with the other side (so right side of loaf, knife slanted towards right direction and vice versa).
• steam? i guess steam has an affect here. i liberally sprayed loaves with water  before going in and threw in some hot tap water into a pan that had been preheating in oven.

i have a small oven with fan if that helps. im trying to get nice balls of bread so i can try those soup bowls and this nice recipe i came across in lowfat cookbook where she removes the inside of the loaf toasts everything fills the boule with a cheesey spinach/herb dip and uses the toasted crumb chunks for dipping. i can post the recipe if anyone's interested. anyway, im sure i have heaps more questions but can;t remember them at the moment so i'll have to bother you all with them another time.

thanks heaps for any feedback, advice, tips. happy baking!