I am trying the cold oven method of baking. I seem to have gotten a lot of oven spring this way. I waited until the loaf was at the top of my small 8x4" pan, which is probably more like 7x4". My kitchen temperature was about 71-73F for this loaf.
I've been playing around with the 123 Method, but I seem to have trouble with it when using bread flour instead of all purpose. Then I saw the "Don't be a bread hostage" and decided to try a variation of both. I brought the hydration up to 80%. I started this on 2/9.
Here is my mish-mash:
100g Starter (100% hydration, bread flour)
310g Water
300g All purpose flour (King Arthur)
100g Bread Flour (King Arthur)
9g Salt
10g Honey
10g Malted Milk Powder
Day 1: Mixed at 9:45am. Let sit until 10:15am. did some stretches in the container and instead of "folding" I squashed it. Then put into the refrigerator at around 11:15am.
Day 2: At 10am I did several stretch and folds on a floured surface. Rested once. Then at about 12pm, shaped and left out to rise in a dark loaf pan. At around 5pm it wasn't quite doubled, so I scored it in the middle put in a cold oven and preheated it to 350F. Once the preheat was done, I put my timer on for about 30-35 minutes. Internal temperature as 209F when I took it out.
The loaf is soft with some chew. It's hard to slice without squashing it, crust is thicker than I'd like. It ballooned above the pan more than I expected, but at least it didn't burst on the sides. I had scored it probably about an inch deep. All in all I think I like the slack dough a bit more than the lower hydration as it's easier to knead. Although, It's a bit frustrating to have it just turn into a puddle outside of a container. But this worked a little better for my schedule-dance around my kids. This way seems like a good hybrid of the 123 and a no-knead bread, at least for when the kitchen is cool.
Edit: I'm thinking of doing this again, but with mostly whole grain and beer for the water. Probably some soaked raisins and soaked bulgur wheat. Unless somebody thinks that the bulgur wheat won't be a nice addition. I just have some in the pantry I bought to try someday.