I've been using an 80/20 mix of bread flour and white wheat and they come out soft and tasty.I'm no expert but near as I can tell, it's getting that second proof nailed. I cut the whole wheat to the same depth as the bread flour one. I don't think I've ever seen a YouTube video of a whole wheat loaf with an ear. Sure tastes good, regardless.
I'm going to try a white whole wheat flour soon. It has less gluten forming proteins than regular bread flour so I might have to add a little vital wheat gluten. We'll see. Not this week. Probably next.

If the starter looks right I'm going to mix and autolize this afternoon to bake tomorrow using straight bread flour.
We'll see....