Would like feedback on Pain Rustique please
This is my fourth attempt at Hamelman's Pain Rustique and it's my best one yet. I am finally getting the hang of working with the very wet dough (I follow his formula precisely - I believe it's 70-75% hydration). This formula has no final shaping, you're just sort of plopping the scaled dough on a couche for a short (25 minute) final ferment before getting a quick slash and going into the oven.
This time I tried to do a bit of loose shaping as I wasn't liking the sort of random and weird shapes I was getting in my earlier attempts at this bread, and it did MOSTLY hold through the final ferment. I did get a weird pop on one end of one of the loaves.
My crust is delicious, I love the flavor of this bread (it's my husband's favorite). I did get some fairly huge holes though - definitely mouse-sized, although this cut is both while the bread was still slightly warm and only a third of the way through. The crumb gets a bit more regular the deeper into the loaf. I do have the translucent cell walls, which I believe is good.
What I'm looking for from this esteemed group is some feedback - what could/should I do differently to perfect this loaf? I'd really to get get this loaf, my Vermont SD and baguettes in a consistent state before I move on to other loaves.