On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 19:05:43 +0000, sstam wrote:

With some breads with various additatives, I am getting a strong first rise,
more than 100% increase, but with the second only get 25-50%.

Additives? Spock, ...explain!

You might want to get more aggressive with your 'punching back'.

Also do you really need a second rise? With sourdough, unlike other bread
making, you have to really watchout for the structual degradation of the
gluten. Usually this is what's happening when your oh-so-perfect dough starts
turning into mush from hell, or iow, it seems more liquidy. When this
happenes the dough won't hold the gases needed to rise. So it may be
that during the second rise acidity is breaking down your dough.