Alsace loaf with rye

Mellow Bakers are baking Dan Lepard's  "The Handmade Loaf" and June has got three great loaves:

This was one of the first I tried so I was happy to revisit this one.

It makes 5 batons but I've only got a double baguette tray so there was a bit of a log jam!

Obsevations.
 DL uses more sweetener than I would.
 The whole grains are wheat not rye, because my storecupboard is already overflowing with ingredients (and no one stocks rye grains locally).

(and that's just the flour bin)

I am beginning to suspect that my dried yeast packet has been open so long that the yeast is no longer very active.
Why does Dan use some rye starter in two of the three recipes this month but not in the third one: Light Caraway Rye (where he uses a 2hr old milk sour). In  this one it seems justified but is used in the same proportion (along with yeast) in the Raisin Ring.

My experimentation with 100% Sourdough Levain, 100% Rye Flour continues to be thwarted at the point where I try to remove it from the pan:

Here's the lid of the Pullman to prove it rose to the top - and stuck hard!

I've not given up yet!