glezer sourdough challah what happened?!

i was very excited to try maggie glezer's "my sourdough challah' recipe. i used her starter, and refreshed it the night before, and it seemed adequately active. i deviated from her instructions in two regards: i used 50% whole wheat flour and i let the shaped loaf proof overnight in the fridge as it was 11 pm when it was ready to shape....

the next day the loaf looked pretty spread out and flatish.....but i took it out of the fridge and let it sit out a good 7 hours prior to baking. when i took it out it was very solid feeling, like modeling clay. when it warmed up it got a little softer, but not much. seemed to spread out not up. and the dough seemed to lack structure. now i followed her instructions to not knead more than 10 minutes, and she said the dough should feel like modeling clay....i added a bit of flour to get it to this point as without it the dough was very very sticky. 

i'm wondering if the dough should have been kneaded longer? i don't know why she limits it to 10 minutes, but she is very clear about this.  as you can see from the picture below, the decorative string of pearls is lying very flat on top of the loaf and there is a big crack below it. i have made this shape before w/some success using her sweet potato challah dough. i don't know how it tastes yet, that will follow once it's cooled. any suggestions would be appreciated. this is my first sourdough challah.

glezer sourdough challah

for comparision, here is the glezer sweet potato (nonsourdough) challah i did a few weeks ago using the same shape. what a difference!

glezer sweet potato challah

the sweet potato dough had much more structure and so i got much better rise and definiation on the string of pearls on the top. the sourdough loaf did rise and had oven spring ....you should have seen how flat it looked going into the oven.....but something wasn't quite right. not enough flour? not enough kneading for gluten development? 

here's the crumb pix (i couldn't wait long and it was quite warm......) but i had to see what the inside looked like and tasted like. the taste is wonderful! and the crumb seems good.....feedback please. the flavor is complex, mildly sweet and you wouldn't really know it's a sourdough...it's not that sour....at all.

glezer sourdough challah crumb

further into the bread....is it supposed to have those holes???

interior crumb glezer sourdough challah