My sourdough got better once I stopped kneading it
I spent a solid 15 months doing that whole stretch and fold routine every 30 minutes for 4 hours. Then I got lazy one Sunday and just mixed the dough, walked away, and baked it 8 hours later. The crumb was way better and I almost got mad about it. Guess I was overworking the dough this whole time, has anyone else found less handling gives better results?
Did you notice the dough was way easier to handle too once you skipped all that folding? I went down the same road and realized the gluten sorts itself out with time, so all that extra work was just me getting in the way. Now I just mix it, let it sit overnight, and the bread comes out better than anything I made when I was fussing over it every half hour.