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Shipton isn’t particularly consistent which doesn’t help.
Their t55 baguette flour is pretty decent though, lovely yellow unbleached stuff.
Generally, it’s difficult to get hold of decent quality flour in the uk. But there’s loads of factors in how well a flour will hold water. Water temp - higher temps will develop gluten quicker, making it easier to bring together. Autolyse also helping with absorption. You can also hydrate in two stages - autolyse and mix, and then slowly add extra water once you’ve developed the dough sufficiently - careful tho, as it’s easy to shag the dough by adding the water too quickly.
Hand mixing high hydration doughs is a ballache tho. I used to do two stage hydration to get doughs up to 90% for pizza.
Nef
I am wondering if that is my problem. My usual recipe produces great loaves with decent oven spring etc.
Spent the day learning to make higher hydration bread, chef tends to use t65 but i only have Shipton mill white. I keep making loaves like Turkish bread. They are lovely but totally lacking skin tension