I don't think that can happen in a bread machine.
To get a chewey rye bread requires a long ferment or s sourdough likes tarter.
Are you baking it in the bread machine as well as mixing it?
Linda C

Yes I know in general bread machine bread is kinda on the cakey side, but I can get a decent white loaf, a white wheat mix, and Annie's Cherry Yogurt bread is quite chewy. That's kinda what I was wondering about, maybe using some kind of buttermilk or yogurt in the mix? I just can't do sourdough though. I bake in the machine, but I could try not doing that. But I don't think if would affect the crumb would it?

For sure it would affect the crumb...
Mix up your dough one evening....refrigerate it....get it out when you get home form work....and shape and rise and then bake.
Hard to tell without seeing the recipe...but
lots of rye flour in proportion to white will make a cakey bread.
Linda C

I have a great bread baking book, but haven't tried the rye yet. I've been meaning to. I'll definitely try it and get back to you.

AM

1. I'd suggest baking the bread outside of the bread machine. By doing so you have a lot more control over the finished product.

2. Try recipes that go beyond the "normal" bread machine recipes from books like:

-Electric Bread - Innovative Cooking Enterprises

-Rustic European Breads From Your Bread Machine - by Linda West Eckhardt and Diana Collingwood Butts

-The Cook's Encyclopedia of Bread Machine Baking - by Jennie Shapter

3. You can affect the texture of bread made in a bread machine by delaying when you add the fat. Bread machines are made for convenience and most people just follow the machine rules and add the ingredients according to the directions without regard for bread-making science.

For a more open-texture and higher rise, add the fat after the gluten has developed and you have a well-formed ball of dough. For a close-grained crumb, almost cake-like texture, add the fat early. The fat shortens the development of the gluten strands when it's added early, just as it does when making bread by hand. You may need to add a little flour along with the fat when you add it later or the dough ball tends to slide around in the pan. I even delay when I add salt. Gluten developes quicker and the kneading is easier when salt is added later. Once salt is added, the gluten really tightens up.

4. You can also alter they bread results by altering the hydration. Wetter is better for "chewy" texture.

5. Know what ingredients cause what results in bread. Enriching ingredients like fat and dairy will create one type of bread (soft crumb great for toast, sandwiches), while lean dough recipes create a different type of bread (holey texture and chewy).

-Grainlady

Thanks for the help!
I even saw one online site that recommended and gave instructions for using the sponge method in the bread machine--letting a sponge develop and then putting it in the fridge overnight and then adding the rest of the ing. later the next day. I have made bread using the sponge method but just cannot devote the time and attention to it, as wonderful as it may be. But if I could have the bread machine doing the majority of the work and I just had to tend to it once and a while that is something I could maybe try on a Sunday. That's the only day I have for making bread. That's when I use the machine.

Thanks Grainlady,
I accidently used your trick of adding fat to a ball of heavy rye bread dough that had only risen half way in my bread machine's dough cycle. Unhappy with it, I let the stiff dough rest until the bread machine had cooled down, then put the dough back into the machine on "dough" to knead, after adding warm, melted butter and a little water. After this second machine kneading the dough had an elastic texture.

The dough rose beautifully after this second "fat" knead. I made the mistake of letting this dough rise a second time in the bread machine, then a third time in my bread pan. It only rose to 3/4 the third time.

So, my final solution to making rye bread is: one fatless, low-salt, full bread machine "dough" cycle; a second bread machine knead cycle with added fat, salt, and if necessary water; the second rise in my favorite bread pan until the dough is ready for baking. (I add 1-2 oz. of ground oatmeal in "crumbly" bread types, like rye bread, to keep the dough moist and the baked crumb chewy, tasty, and cohesive.
Bye