Help for the Crumb of My WW Loaf
Hello bakers,
After the (mis)adventures in learning to bake 100% whole wheat sandwich breads (see http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/25141/reinhart-100-ww-many-questions [1]), I have settled into making very tasty, soft, well-rising loaves. Overall, learning to bake this recipe has been a great experience. I'm trying to convince myself to branch out and try sourdough, but I like this recipe that much. Maybe sometime in the future I'll try something new.
But I'm still not satisfied with the structure/ crumb of my loaves. When I slice the bread, it makes a ridiculous number of teeny tiny bread crumbs. It's just... flakey. And the slices aren't very sturdy. The bread is incredibly tender, especially when it first comes out of the oven, but after it cools it feels quite fragile. It makes AMAZING toast, though. I consistently get a texture like this out of probably 9 out of 10 loaves. It's fine if we want slices of bread to accompany a meal, but for sandwiches or buttering the bread, the slices just fall apart too easily. In short, I guess I'm looking for a little more strength within the crumb.
Is the problem gluten development? I'm using KA 100% WW flour, no added gluten. Should I try adding a few tsp of gluten?
This is hard to explain, and I don't think photos would illustrate it well. I hope someone understands what I'm trying to describe and has run into this phenomenon before.
Thanks for your input!