The great sourdough experiment

So I think I have become over confident. I've successfully baked sourdough now for the last few weeks, am feeling pretty confident so I thought I would mix things up. I have to confess to reading everything I can about sourdough, the cookbook collection on this topic alone is now up to 6 and I've watched countless videos. I decided recently that I am a folder, not a kneader after watching Matt Moran do this on his Instagram feed - the bread turned out brilliantly. I've also decided to cook sourdough in cast iron pots (lid on for the first 20 mins) as the crust is incredible. So with all of this behind me I thought, lets push the whole "no kneading further". Step 1, I added my starter to my flour, water and salt and left this to sit covered overnight (12-16 hours) before I gently scooped the bubbly mass into a cast iron pot. This was super sticky and I almost gave up on the whole thing, but I managed to get it into the pot and left it again for a further hour to prove. Then it was into the oven (230 Celsius) for 20 mins, then lid off fro another 30 mins. The result? I'm not convinced the texture is right, but it tasted nice. I think I might return to kneading as the texture is better. Why did I try this? I am chasing the perfect spread of bubbles in the finished loaf. I'm still not there yet.