baking bread, not as easy as you may think

I've been trying to perfect a 100% whole wheat bread recipe for the past few months. I finally got some beautiful loaves yesterday, they rose to astounding heights, smelled all yeasty, and looked perfect! Then I put a cold egg wash on the top of them (which really, I knew better) and they immediately fell... like a good inch or so. So, now I know not to do that again, trial and error, as they say, trial and error. But they still taste great, nothing like warm bread right out of the oven with a nice layer of butter on it. I consider it a success.