Question for JMonkey

Well, for starters, 100% whole wheat breads won't be quite as lofty as a white flour bread, so you'll need a bit more dough to get the same volume of bread. You just can't get around the bran.

I find that for a standard 8.5x4.5 loaf pan, I need about 1.75 lbs or 800 grams of dough to get a decent sized loaf.

Here's a few tricks, though, that will help:

1. Knead the dough very well: For a standard 2-loaf recipe, you'll need to knead about 600 strokes or 20 minutes by hand. I can't tell you what you'd need for a stand mixer, though, because I don't have one.
2. Use a biga or poolish if using commercial yeast: Helps with the rise (and flavor!)
3. Soak the rest of the dough overnight with some salt: I try to keep about the same salt percentage and the same hydration as in the final the dough. If you don't salt it, it can get goopy. This develops the gluten so much, that all you really need to do is knead for 3-5 minutes until all the rest of the ingredients are incorporated. Makes it taste better too -- adds a depth of flavor that's kind of ... spicy?
4. Use some butter or buttermilk: Dairy products help reinforce the gluten network, giving the air bubbles morre oomph to expand than they ordinarily would. If you add 1 Tbs of butter per loaf and substitute up to half of the liquid with buttermilk or even just plain milk, you'll see a difference in loff. In Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, there's a recipe for Featherpuff bread that uses cottage cheese, butter, and buttermilk (or milk, not sure). The size of the loaf is truly outrageous, though I found the taste a bit bland. Next time, I'll use a biga.

As soon as I finish my Desem experiment, I'll have a review of the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, but I can say with confidence that, whatever its flaws and shortcomings, there is no better resource out there right now (Peter Reinhart's forthcoming book will probably change the situation) for learning how to make light, good tasting 100% whole wheat bread.