Overproofed?
Hi All. I suspect the answer to my problem is overproofing but please provide your input so I know for sure.
The bread I made this weekend turned out a bit deflated. I used dry active yeast and proofed for 2 hours and 15 mins. After the proofing stage, the dough was extremely unstable. This meaning, it was very soft to the touch. When poked, it almost felt like there was nothing inside, kind of like a half air-filled balloon. Then when I transfered the proofed doughs onto the baking surface, both boules totally lost their height and deflated to almost half, and kind of spread out. I was afraid to even score the bread, but I did anyway. The scoring was almost impossible as the blade made the dough stretch and pull - and yes I do use a very sharp blade. For lack of better description, the surface kind of felt like grandma's skin. Sure enough, the results were a less heighty bread, with a more condensed holey crumb. Tasted fine, just wasn't at all nice and full shaped.
Sounds like a pretty cut and dry case of overproofing?