There's probably no one single answer to your question, but here are some things to consider:

1. Exact measures (cups or weight) for flour in recipes for bread making is only a good guess. You must go by the feel of the dough and only add as much flour as is required to make a nice soft dough. Depending on the bakers' percentages (of dry to liquid) and the type of bread, it may even need to be a very well-hydrated, loose dough and "wetter is better" in that case. Wet dough = a holey texture.

Because of differences in the moisture level of the flour, the differences in the protein levels of flour from one bag to another (gluten really soaks up a lot of hydration), even the differences in the amount of humidity in the air in the kitchen from one baking day to another, all influence the hydration of the dough and you may need more or less flour than the recipe calls for. I make sourdough bread and NEVER measure the flour - it's by "feel".

2. Depending on how much rye flour you are adding (it suggests 1 c. or 1/2 c., or more) the stickier your dough will be. That's a characteristic of rye flour in bread dough. If you don't know this, you may be adding more flour to compensate for the stickiness and have actually added too much flour. Dry dough = dry bread and occasionally, a "brick". It certainly won't have that nice open texture you are looking for. Expect a lot of stickiness in rye bread dough. Always err to the side of a wet dough.

3. Doubling the recipe... You may be getting different results because you haven't kneaded it enough (due to the additional bulk) to develop the gluten. It may take more kneading time. Are you doing a test, such as windowpaning (aka membrane test) to see if the gluten has developed enough during kneading?

4. Dough does NOT rise to a clock, rather to the amount and strength of the yeast, as well as the moisture and ambient temperature. I use a dough rising bucket with a tight-fitting lid on it (aka dough doubler) for accurately knowing when dough has "doubled". If you put 1-qt./1-L in a dough rising bucket, when the dough is up to the 2-qt./2-L line (there are usually graduated measurements on these plastic tubs), you know the dough has doubled. It eliminates the guess work and it's the ONLY accurate way to know how much your dough has risen. Certainly not an inacurate slant-sided bowl, nor by using the poke-it-with-your-fingers test method after playing peek-a-boo with the dough hidden under a towel. A straight-sided dough rising bucket is accurate and it holds the moisture in to prevent the dough from drying out, with the lid. If you don't cover dough properly, the air can create a skin on the dough surface and it will prevent the dough from rising properly. In this particular recipe, I suspect "double" is allowing it to rise too much.

Because our flour is no longer bromated, it doesn't have the extensibility it used to have when "double" was the normal standard for how long to allow the dough to rise. You also have the addition of rye flour that has very little gluten, therefore going to "double" may actually be slightly over-proofing the dough. "Double" for a rustic loaf is also probably allowing it to rise too much. Double again for the final proofing, and you may end up with a shorter loaf due to over-proffing the dough twice.

You also don't say what type of flour you are using. I'd suggest a high-protein bread flour such as King Arthur or Robin Hood, in combination with rye. If you are using all-purpose flour, you may need to add some gluten to the recipe.

5. How are you adding moisture to the oven? Because of the additional bulk in the oven (2 loaves instead of 1) you may not be getting as much oven-spring from the method you are using to add moisture.

I'd suggest Christopher Kimball's method (as described in "The Cook's Bible".

Place a small cast iron skillet on a separate (low) rack in the oven during pre-heating. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Wear thick oven mits and long sleeves to protect your arm, and pour the boiling water from a (new/clean) long-spouted watering can into the skillet. Shut the door and no peeking. If you open the door in the first 20 minutes of baking, you'll let out the steam. No spritzing necessary.

The "dash of water" in the oven, and the continual spritzing method aren't enough moisture for a good amount of oven spring to the loaves. Another bad method is tossing ice cubes in the oven....

See if there is something there that makes some sense to you. Good luck!

-Grainlady

Here is the rye bread recipe I use. I like to make a sourdough version too.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Rye Bread
=========
1 1/2 cups rye flour
3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat
2 teaspoons yeast
2 to 3 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon molasses
2 tablespoons melted butter
Approximately 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water

Egg Wash
. Stir together all the dry ingredients. Add the molasses, butter and 1
1/4 cups of water. Mix until dough comes together. Add more water if
needed. Knead until dough is smooth and supple. Dough should not be
too stiff.

I used the Food Processor to knead the dough.

Oil a large bowl and roll the dough to coat it wth the oil. Cover with
plastic wrap.

Let rise until double, approximately 1 1/2 hours.

Knock dough down, divide in half and form two loaves. Free form or in
a loaf pan.

Dust the loaves with a little flour and cover with a tea towel.

Heat oven to 350F.

Slash loaves and brush with an egg wash. Bake on a stone or on a
parchment covered baking sheet for approximately 45 minutes or until an
instant read thermometer reads 190°F.

Thanks grainlady, but I think you misunderstood my question. Rereading it, it probably wasn't clear enough.

The recipe makes enough dough for about a 2 pound loaf. It seems to come out better if I cook it as one 2 pound loaf rather than 2 one-pound loaves. Actually the first time I made it, I made 2 one-pound loaves because the amount of dough looked so large. This last time I made a double recipe and made 2 two-pound loaves.

So the question is, why does the recipe produce a better result when baked as a 2-pound loaf than it does when baked as two 1-pound loaves?

Yes, I understand that one needs to adjust flour amount based on how the dough is coming out and that this should be a wetter stickier dough. I watch how the dough is gathering in the mixer to adjust the flour. But I don't find I need to adjust much, perhaps moisture in my flour doesn't vary much because I live in an area where humidity is usually consistent and relatively low. At the start of this recipe, I add some water to my starter because I keep a doughy starter adding 1/2 c water for 1 c flour and the recipe assumes a batter consistency starter with equal volume of water and flour.

Based on your advice when I started making bread this summer, I got a straight sided clear dough raising bucket to make it easier to tell when dough has risen enough.

I'm using bread flour. I don't recall the brand - it is what is available at Smart and Final in big (25 pound or more) sacks.

If anything, I get too much "oven spring" (if that means the amount the bread rises in the oven) - even with slashing the crust sometimes bursts in places.

My double oven came with two roasting pans that can be fit in grooves under the racks. I only need one of them for when I use the rotisserie so I keep the other one for bread baking. I put the baking stone on top of the rack and the roasting pan under the rack. I have been either tossing a dish of ice cubes into the roasting pan (the method suggested in Secrets of a Jewish baker) or pouring a couple of cups of near-boiling water (from my insta-hot) into the pan. When I open the oven to take the bread out, there is a burst of steam out of the oven so that appears to be working. I agree that is probably better than the spritzing method in the recipe - I ignore that part of the directions because I don't want to cause temperature stresses in my oven throwing water against the walls and I expect one loses about as much steam as one gains each time one opens the door to toss in more water - better to put in 2 cups at once and leave the door closed.

Sorry for the misunderstanding... I thought you were doubling the recipe and having trouble with that.

Oven spring is the final rise the dough makes when it's put in the oven. Oven spring usually accounts for approximately 1/3 the size of the finished loaf.

1. One pound loaves may require a reduction in the oven temperature (perhaps 25°F).

2. If your loaves are shredding on the sides and you've docked (scored/slashed/cut) the dough...

a. Some shredding is natural and expected.
b. Are you holding the cutting tool at a 45-degree angle, rather than straight up and down? The cuts should be made quickly and about 1/2-inch deep.
c. It may be helpful to use a wet razor/knife/lame.
d. You may need more cuts to control the "bloom" of the loaf, and therefore prevent some of the shredding.

Shredding can also indicate the dough hasn't risen enough before it was baked. If a panned loaf shreds, it's often because the incorrect amount of dough was placed in the pan (too much dough in the pan). It can also indicate you've used too much bench flour when forming the loaves, but that's one of the lesser causes. I never use bench flour when forming loaves. I form loaves on a Silpat with oiled/butter/greased hands (I usually use coconut oil). I don't like burned, raw flour residue on my loaves (that's just a personal preference thing....). It's also easy to end up with streaks of raw flour in the loaves from using too much bench flour. I often find that when I judge breads at the fair, and will judge down for that.

One other question - are you using a convection oven? If so, you may need to reduce the temperature (as much as 50°F less).

It's these funny little things that makes breadmaking so interesting... The more I study the subject, the more I wonder I ever successfully make a loaf.

-Grainlady