My sourdough is baking up just fine but I get these unfortunate "bumps" just along the bottom ridge, slightly above the bottom crust. Anyone know what causes it? I have tried different sizes of dutch ovens and a cast iron pot so I don't think it's the pot size. I have tried with and without parchment so it's not that but I *always* get these ugly bumps that stick out. It's hard to get a good pic of it but I'm including a few here.
I am still waiting for bannetons to arrive in mail so I'm using a glass bowl and a basket and in happens with both so I don't think it's that either...
If anyone has advice, please let me know what I am doing wrong and how to correct it!
I think it is your shapening.
Nothing to worry about.
If the bread is nice to eat the rest is not that important.
The little blisters, I guess, are from having lots of air bubbles under a thin skin on the surface. The uglier ones had popped.
Perhaps slightly overproved or very yeasty?
Definitely not yeasty tasting, nor overly sour. I am not sure about overproofed...King Arthur Flour told me it may be caused simply by overnight rest in fridge but so many others do that and I don't see the bumps on their loaves. Could be shaping too loosely - trying a batch today where I shaped as tightly as possible and then followed Maurizio's instructions for tightening up the bottom with four folds after putting in basket - hadn't seen that earlier and the one I did that way seemed much tighter than my other batches going into the fridge. Will report back here with results after baking this morning!
In case this is useful to anyone else here...I solved my issue. I discovered because of other problems with my loaves that I was over-fermenting. I still get a few bumps on the sides but as I am now getting an overall much higher lift/expansion with not over-fermenting, the bumps are fewer and the ones there are less obvious!