alphabetgirl wrote:
>
> Ideas, anyone?
>


As an educated guess, you probably did not bake the bread long enough
and that will cause the crust to soften after baking as excess moisture
escapes. Another factor contributing to a dense chewy crumb is that you
also probably did not allow the bread to rise enough.

When you put the bread in the cooler the fermentation slows way down.
Also, when retarded dough is removed from the cooler, not much happens
until the dough warms up and that can take more time than you think at
room temperature. You can't count the time in the cooler or the time
warming up as full fermentation time.

You are still leaving out information necessary to help you discover how
to improve your bread. We know your recipe and mixing routine, but you
have not mentioned how the rise time is divided.

You should have a starter prep, dough mix, bulk fermentation, stretch
and fold or "punch down", Scale and rounding, rest, dough forming, rise
after forming, bake, and finally a cool down. Some may put a stretch
and fold series right after mixing. some may put a refrigerated rest or
"retard" in the process. The actual process can be debated, but the
point is that we don't know what you did.

We are left wondering about several things in your method even assuming
good starter prep and good mixing with an OK recipe.

Regards,

Charles