I don’t think you’ve violated any forum guidelines. There are many breaducators out there and it’s interesting to learn from any and all!
Let me start by apologizing in advance if I confuse any of the details of your baking experience with another currently ongoing forum thread
Whether you go with a fermentolyse or an autolyse, it sounds like your bulk fermentation is at most 2-3 hours. That to me seems very risky for underfermention (unless it’s 85F in your kitchen thru the stretch and folds, not just the lit oven, and you’re using like 50% starter in your baker’s percentages). A 25-30% expansion of the dough seems small to me too, if we ignore the clock. But as you noted, it works well for Sune.
So you might ask him what he’s using for bread flour. Some bread flours, including Breadtopia’s have 13.5% protein, or higher. Also is his rye sifted/light or full of bran and germ? What are his dough and ambient temps?
You’re correct that the terminology is a little bit wonky. In my vocab, the entire rising process is “fermentation,” and shaping can happen anywhere along the way (with varied results). But I and others do often throw “overproofed” out there to mean too much cumulative fermentation (first and second rise), so I agree it’s confusing.
Some things to think about:
If shaping happens very early in the total fermentation, then the shape is likely to release its tension by the time you bake.
If shaping happens very late in the total fermentation, the dough will not refill with air very much before you bake.
But there is a wide margin of acceptable outcomes. I tend to shape late at 75% expansion, while @benito (whose crumbs are amazing) I believe shapes more at 50% expansion. Correct me if I’m wrong, Benny.
If you shape a dough that’s under fermented (imo less than 40% expansion) but let it proof for a long time, you’ll often get upward trajectory diagonal bubbles in the crumb. In contrast, if the final proof were pretty short/all cold, you’d get a dense gummy crumb possibly with “mouse holes.” An underfermented dough going into the refrigerator is going to be really dormant compared to one that is farther along the fermentation curve when it gets cold.
If you shape a dough that’s over fermented but then shorten the final proof, you’ll get a flatter loaf with relatively even but small holes. Lots of flavor too. But if this final proof were pretty long or very hot, you get a denser and flatter loaf due to utter collapse of the structure.
I hope some of this info helps. You might check out the other thread I linked to above.
Edited to add: I really don’t think there are rules of thumb about dough expansion before shaping. I know I threw minimum 40% out there, but often I hit 100% too. The amount of whole grain flour, enrichment like eggs and butter, goals for the final product – this all impacts how the dough is going to behave.