I made a sourdough starter a few months ago and have been figuring out
the basics since then, but there are two general questions I'm hoping
someone here can help me with:

1. About how much salt do you use in your dough? I tend to start with
about a half-cup of fairly thin starter, add a half-cup of water, and
then flour from there (I have small oven so I make small batches). To
this I've been adding about a teaspoon of salt. Does this seem
reasonable? The dough rises awfully slowly, and I suspect salt might
be to blame. I've left out salt altogether by accident on a few
occasions, and the dough sure rose well, but tasted terrible.

2. What makes bread chewy? My bread tastes fine, but it's awfully
dense and crumbly, and what I'd really like is the kind of chewy loaf
with big air pockets in it. Is it just kneading time, or are there
other factors involved?

Sorry for the uninspired questions, but I feel like I'm at a point
where experimentation isn't providing the answers. Thanks to anyone
who takes a moment to respond!

Eric