Whole wheat bread is still a battle

Toast

Recently, began using a natural sourdough yeast leavening.

This form has a delightful flavor without the tartness I've found using instant yeast to create a starter.


The last several batches have risen out the pan and appears to split on one side.

My oven is preheated to 350 degrees before the bread is baked.

Attached are several pictures showing the baked bread.

Any suggestions on what causes this strange rising?

 

 

Crusted over too quickly so escaping air took the easiest route and found the weakest spot. Scoring and steaming will help. 

 

That looks fairly normal to me the tear is where the loaf has expanded above the edge of the pan, it is relatively even  it has not exploded just a stretch mark really, pretty good for whole wheat! you can see the original size of the loaf on the crust and you can see The amount that it has risen.

Regards Derek

in my experience , sometimes  an indication of a too dry mix that results in a dry dough , too dry for  tin-pan formed sandwich baking. 

Floppy , are you  mixing a dry dough  that you try to wet up a bit , or a wet dough that you flour heavily to try and firm it up a bit ?

I don't see lack of scoring and steaming  as the problems here ,  dryness and lack of elasticity in the dough surface are . Also , the placement of the  seam may be a minor  contributing factor .

Have  you tried  lightly oiling  the dough before  placing it in the tin pan  and kept  tin covered with it rises ?     

whilst still in the  revolving mixer  ,  by hand , gradually  sprinkle with a dusting of white flour until the dough pulls away from  the sides of the bowl  .  Turn that dough ball out into a  lightly oiled glass  bowl , and gripping the bowl  well in both hands ,   spin and toss  it until the  ball is fully oiled . Cover with a lid and leave it to rise .

When it has risen  well , knead again , in the bowl ,  with a light oiling , spin and toss , and  drop into the baking tin.

 

 You might like to look at some of the posts by Natyam  / Yogi he is baking for a  Hindu Monastery and uses wholemeal flour exclusively and has done for some time his latest batches of bread are really good 

I'll second the recommendations to make sure you have enough steam, and to score your loaves.

The other thing that will cause loaves to burst like this is being a bit under proofed (but I think the steam and esp. the scoring should take care of you).

process?  Are you including a soaker, where the flour (and perhaps salt) is allowed to absorb the recipe water several hours before adding the rest of the ingredients?