I've been making, off and on over the years, a whole wheat bread recipe I created back in the 90's . It's almost as soft as a loaf of sandwich bread from the store. Just not as pasty.
After watching a few videos about baking recently I learned that it's a 'fat bread' (has milk and butter in it) as opposed to a 'lean bread' (basically flour water and salt). My bread comes out like a heavy crumby cake.
I also kneed flour into it until it's not sticky. I think the video described it as a dry dough , as opposed to a wet dough. There was something about moisture percentages between the two, but I forget.
Most reports from people I've shared it with say ; Toasted the second day with butter and jam is just as good as warm out of the oven.
I made a truckload of 'bricks' before i figured out how to make soft , almost fluffy, whole wheat bread.