1. Switch to white whole wheat flour and I think you'll find a whole different taste and will enjoy your hard work, compared to red wheat varieties (which most of the commercial whole wheat flours are milled from). Red wheat flour is more bitter than white wheat varieties.

2. When the bread crumbles (and is difficult to slice) you could have one of several things you need to check the next time you make bread.

- Crumbling can be caused by over-fermenting the dough. Make sure you don't allow the dough to go any more than double in the primary fermentation and the final proof. If you have a problem knowing when the dough has doubled, I'd suggest getting a dough rising bucket so that you can accurately know when the dough has doubled during the primary fermentation.

- Adding too much flour can also cause the crumb to crumble. Only add as much flour as it takes to make a nice soft dough. The amount listed in the recipe is just a good guess, so you may actually need more or less than that amount to get the correct hydration and "feel" of the dough.

- Did you knead the dough long enough to develop the gluten? You can test the dough by using a membrane (aka windowpane) test to see if you have the gluten developed.

- Just as important as kneading is how much time you spend mixing the dry ingredients into the liquid ingredients. If mixing by hand, slowly add the flour in small amounts and beat the mixture until that amount of flour is incorporated before adding more (a Danish Dough Whisk is an excellent tool for this process). If your dough is a shaggy mess when you place it on the counter to knead, you didn't do a good job mixing. Mixing is a very important part of gluten development - not just kneading. If you do a good job mixing, kneading will be easier and you won't need to add a lot of flour during kneading to get control of a shaggy/sticky mound of dough. If you are adding a lot of flour during kneading, then your bread will not have the correct hydration.

- Did you wait until the loaf was completely COOL before slicing? If not, then you will compromise the texture of the crumb.

- A rather remote problem, your flour may not have enough gluten to make good bread. Make sure your whole wheat flour wasn't whole wheat PASTRY flour. Whole wheat pastry flour is milled from soft wheat and won't contain enough gluten for good bread making.

-Grainlady

Thank you so much for all the hints and advice concerning my bread making. I was reading your post to my husband and when I was finished he said it sounds like this lady knows what she is talking about. His father was a baker by trade and he said the house always smelled good from fresh bread and pasteries. Unfortunately he passed away in the 40s and my husband being young had not been interested in learning his Dad's skill. Supposedly he left a small notebook with his recipes in and it disapeared. Everyone in the family thinks his sister took it, if she did, she isn't sharing the contents with anyone. Thanks again Grainlady, you have made me very happy. Vique.
John 3:16