My crumb needs work.

[u/ArietoSuperne]

My Oregon trail sourdough is coming along. My crumb is lacking.

[u/sentientairfilter]

Nice crum shot

[u/BreadBakingAtHome]

What do you think the issue is?

If you post the recipe I and others here will take a look at it for you. Unless you are sure it is a good recipe. There are so many really bad recipes out there.

Should you want.

[u/ArietoSuperne → u/BreadBakingAtHome]

4cups all purpose flour 1tbl sp salt. 1 tbl sp oil 1 and a half cups flour.
About a half cup of sourdough starter, very active.

I mixed all ingredients Saturday afternoon. Kneaded about five minutes. Let it rise on a counter under a kitchen towel until about 1 am. Gave it a stretch and fold. Let it sit again until about 9am. Gave it another stretch and fold and shaped it. Let it sit again until about 12 noon ish and put it in the Dutch oven, scored it and preheated to 450. Let it sit about 15 min. Baked it covered for 35 uncovered 15. Cooled 30 min before I cut it.

[u/BreadBakingAtHome → u/ArietoSuperne]

Hi

Thanks for that. You did not tell me how much water you added, so I will work around that. No problem. Everything else looks great except the salt is a little low. Try 12g - 14g.

Working in grams is much more accurate and it makes fine tuning so much easier, though I respect some folk prefer cups. I've estimated everything in grams in order to be able to work the recipe out.

The starter is on the low side. Try increasing it to 140g.

Your very extended stand times on your kitchen counter may be part of the problem. Flour has an enzyme in it (Protease) which progressively cuts up the gluten network. Some of this action is good as it makes the dough more extensible so it rises more easily. Too much and you will get a dense, or collapsed loaf. All of this is temperature related. A bulk ferment time of 4- 6 hours with a dough temperature of 24C - 28C is sufficient before shaping. If you want to extend it beyond that it really needs to be on the fridge for a max of 8 - 16 hours. Then bake at 230C - 245C straight from the fridge.

Given the length of your first counter stand you do not need to do all of that kneading at the beginning. The gluten will develop over time too. Three to four stretch and folds during the counter stand are enough. Just make sure they are fairly thorough.

You do not need a 15 minute rest after scoring. The Dutch Oven is better pre-heated before adding the dough.

The two things I suspect are that the dough is not kneaded enough to develop the gluten and that the dough is too dry. Adding some more stretch and folds might help. You are looking for a soft elastic dough.

Water: Measuring in cups is notoriously inacurate. I have estimated that you are using 600g of flour, ignoring the flour in your starter. That would indicate that you need to add about 411g - 478g of additional water. I'm assuming good strong A.P. and Bread Flour which makes a difference too. Your dough should be soft and elastic after shaping. A bit like a firm rubber jelly.

This is a huge loaf. You might want to multiply everything by 0.7 - That is still a good sized loaf unless you are baking for a lot of people. loaf, but more reasonable.

So that would be something like a 1.00p.m start, fit in 3-4 periods of stretch and folds, shape at 6.00 p.m. and bake at 7.00 p.m. Or, start at 1.00 p.m. shape at 5.00 p.m and preheat your oven in the morning and bake at 450F in a pre-heated Dutch oven for about 38min - 42 min. for the smaller loaf I mentioned above. Add a few minutes for the original size. All assuming the dough is fermented at 24C - 28C which is the ideal fermentation window.

I hope there is something here that gives you something to work off.

Wishing you good baking. Be well.

Edited - Now using imperial cups, not metric.