Very odd dough

I reckon it overfermented.

Fasdcinated by why you would get a sponge/levain all active and doubled and ready to make bread dough, and then - put it in the fridge and make it dormant... Also a hlaf cup of starter is an awful lot to one cup of flour for your levain. Left overnight unless very cold this would be pretty oozy by the time it got to the fridge. Would need to know how much you added for bread dough but suspect you may have the same issue if mixing at that kind of proportion.

Why not make your sponge/levain on the Friday morning so it's still active when you make the bread dough Friday night?

ANd maybe try less porportion of starterr in your sponge and less sponge in your bread dough, and it might not end up so oozy.

 with Davo. 

One other thing to consider, is that if you are only removing half of the starter when you feed it, the starter's acidity would be high. That, plus the fact that your starter is such a high proportion of the dough, would mean that the high acidity would quickly attack and destroy the gluten which would flatten the dough as you describe.

There's no one right way, but a 1:2:2 ratio (starter:water:flour) is common for replenishing starter (results in a 100% hydration starter), and the 1:2:3 ratio is tried and tested for the bread dough.

Kym.

Why not make levain up Friday morning so it's fermented by Fr evening. Fri evening make bread dough and bulk ferment/scale/shape. If you have a cool room (say 12-14 deg c overnight) I find that a shaped loaf left like this is pretty good to bake in the morning, so long as the bulk ferment hasn;t gone too far. If it's a little sluggish, bring it near the warming oven and give it an hour at more like 20 deg C.

Or cold proof the loaves in fridge Fr night - in which case perhaps let the bulk ferment/start of proof go a little further before they hit the fridge, then bring out to warm for up to a couple hours in the morning and then bake.

If you are using 1/2 cup of starter [only needing 1 cup total for dough]  I would feed it 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup warm water, and let it sit overnight.  The next morning I would had another 1 cup water, to the existing starter then proceed to make your dough... Leave it in the fridge to raise while you are at work.   Come home, take it out of fridge and let it come to room temperature.  Then  mold it in whatever shape you do, and then put it back in the fridge and let it slow rise.   Then bake it off in the morning.    No need to let it come to room temp.   preheat oven for at least 30 minutes. 

It could be also that you got a bad batch of flour also. 

Hope that helps

It seems as if you are not being patient..  You made your sponge in the morning then made the dough that afternoon.  Another thing I noticed is that you use a lot of flour.

When you make sponge all you want to do is "feed" the yeast, to build it up to the amount that you need for a specific recipe.  So when you make your sponge,  use 1/2 cup starter, 1/2 water, 1/2 cup flour, and then let it sit 8 to 12 hours. Then proceed to make the dough for the bread, then let it rise for another 3 hours maybe longer depending on the circumstances in your environment  [heat and cold]  then form it, put it in the fridge for overnight, and bake the next morning.  If you want to bake the same day, then set it out and let it rise again maybe 3 hours or more or less, it depends on how hot or cold it is where you live.

"Be patient"

Hope

I'm a home baker, not a professional and perhaps one of the professionals would disagree with the way I do things, and will give different advice.    But what I do works for me...

If your starter is active, then yes skip the sponge and just make the dough.... But you still have to be patient.  It takes starter a long time to rise , just give it time...when you see it has doubled or more then proceed to the next step..

What I find that works for me is, the less you play around with the dough the better bread you get. The longer you let it rise or ferment, the better flavour..    This is why I say be patient.  

I'm not a professional, but I do sell my bread to the owner of a local health food store where I live, as well as to the person who cuts my hair.  I don't sell for money, I barter, they give me discounts on products I need..     So I do make good bread, at least good enough that others like it also. 

It should rise in the fridge, no need to take it out of the fridge and let it rise again...  Preheat your oven for at least 30 minutes to allow it to get to temperature, put your bread in and bake for at least 15 minutes, then reduce your temperature by about 25 degrees, then let it continue baking, until done.  

I dont know what recipe you use, so I can't be specific..

Hello Dabearo

You mention that last nights batch was in a proofing oven.  I wonder whether that is too warm and the dough has gone way past well developed.  If that is the case, the gluten breaks down completely and that would be consistent with your problem.  Was the dough that seems OK just left at room temperature?  What is the temperature in the 'oven'?

I would be tempted to not use the proofing oven unless your RT is very low and, if you do,make sure that the temperature is in the right range and obviously your bulk ferment and proofing times will be much shorter than at RT.

A basket lined with a flour dredged tea towel is what I use for a batarde and a colander lined ditto for a boule.  The said towel with folds between loaves for baguette.

Keep on bakin'

Farinam

How great that it did work out for you..  Now you know what to do.  Remember though if you put your starter in the fridge when you want to use it, you have to feed it before you make the dough.  

Awesome job Dabaearo!!!

Hope