Crumbly loaf that falls apart when slicing
I've searched this question, and most of the answers were "bread has crumbs, get over it."
But I think the person asking the question inaccurately described the problem. Yes, bread has crumbs, but my loaf is so crumbly it falls apart when I slice it and forget picking it up to make toast or a sandwich.
I'm using the whole wheat sandwich bread recipe from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day with some changes. It's 6 1/4 cups flour (I usually use 5 cups wheat and 1.25 of white for the extra gluten), 2 tsp yeast (it's less than the original recipe, I think), 2 T. sugar, 1 egg, 2 T. oil, 2.5 cups water with 2/3 cup powdered milk (I use this in place of the water and milk in the original)... I'm writing this from memory, I don't think I missed anything. Oh, and I usually also add about 1 cup of sourdough starter (my starter is on the runny side), which is why I use less yeast.
And I both knead it for 5 minutes with the dough hook in my kitchenaid and then let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours. Shouldn't that develop the gluten enough? I don't usually do the pull and fold three times like the recipe cals for, perhaps that is the problem...
Any other insight would be awesome! Thanks in advance!