Whole Wheat Rye

Part of what makes bread distinct from, say, a tortilla, dosa, or barley cake is that it rises.  It rises because wheat, and to a lesser extent, rye, contain gluten, which when kneaded and leavened by yeast or sourdough forms a tight protein network that expands as entrapped bubbles of gas within the bread's structure grow.  Those bubbles are released by yeast.  Inside the oven, when the gas bubbles are heated they enlarge again.  Gluten holds the bread together as it rises and springs again inside the oven.  The air pockets you find inside the bread when you slice it -- small, fine, and regular in a sandwich loaf or large and disoriented in a baguette -- are evidence that the whole thing worked.

White bread flour has the highest gluten content and therefore provides the lightest breads.  Whole wheat, with its bran and germ, by proportion has lower concentrations of gluten forming proteins. The greater the ratio of whole wheat to white flour, then, the denser the final loaf.  Rye, in contrast to wheat, has a little bit of gluten and will rise some, but pure rye breads -- think eastern European black breads -- are pretty dense.

I'm trying to learn to work with rye.  I like its complex flavor and how different it is from wheat when it comes to making bread.  I followed a recipe to make these two whole wheat and rye loaves.  I got more rise than I expected and a whole lot more taste.