SO. Today was the first time I've ever baked bread period AND used whole wheat flour so I'm still attempting to figure out the whole baking thing. (I'm mostly a cook, not so much a baker so these absolute proportions are something I'm still wrapping my head around HAHA).

Anyways, I pretty much ended up with what typical failures in WW baking look like....dry, dense-as-bricks bread.

I only used Whole Wheat Flour and Dark Rye Flour so to subsitute the lack of gluten? I added a bit of Vital Wheat Gluten.

Anyways, here's a rough of what I did:

SPONGE: 1c. dark rye flour, 2 c. WW Flour, 3 packets active dry yeast, 2 c. H2O, 2 tsp Honey,
The sponge was liquidy and rose for an hour and rose considerably.

DOUGH: I mixed the sponge and folded in about 1 c. WW, 1/2 c. Rye and 1.5 tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten (Along with some hemp,poppy, and flax seed)
I let it rise for 3 to 4 hours with a damp cloth in a sunny area. I may at this point have added too much flour. The dough did not rise too much but it did not rise that much (not like sponge) and it formed a little hard crust outside....

I ignored that, shaped and sliced the dough, basted it with a bit of egg, and sprinkled the top with seeds and flour.
Baked one at 400F for 10 minutes lowered the temp to 350 and baked for 30.
Second one baked for 30 - 40 min at 350.

What can I do to make a better crusty bread? (It was also incredibly bland-- I think I need to add some salt for that)

Do I HAVE to add unbleached flour to bread to make it a little fluffier but still maintain that nice rustic crust? It's a bit discouraging when I would love a high-fiber, 100% whole wheat bread that's crusty and similar to the artisan bread that I buy that my supermarket bakes the day of (from La Brea Brand and such).

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I think my problems may be that I
1. Added too much flour
2. not enough honey for yeast
3. need more gluten!
4. kneaded too much although I barely kneaded it.....?