Bread Newbie - - where to start?

i have just started my bread baking journey. I have been making my way through Beth Hensperger’s The Bread Bible. I have two consistent problems. The bread browns much too quickly even though oven temp is correct(calibrated to be right on). More troubling is the bread texture. It’s either too soft (like the smooth product that comes from bread machine) or very tight and crumbly (especially if I use a sponge starter recipe). I switched to pure convection on oven and use a bread stone that I preheat at 425 F with a temp reduction to 25 F degrees less than recipe temp when the bread goes in. I have also tried using a pan of ice on bottom rack. This has helped the browning issue but still not getting that beautiful stretchy chewy crumb and crust for which I started baking my own bread.  I use a Kenwood mixer with paddle for initial mix then switch to dough hook for the knead. I know I must be doing something that doesn’t let gluten develop but not sure where to go for basics tutorial. Looking for any advise please don’t worry about being too basic also happy for any book, blog article references. Also would like opinion on convection vs convection bake vs straight bake. Thanks in advance!