These are some general numbers. You get a little more extraction with hard white wheat, compared to hard red wheat. -45 pounds = 158 cups of ground flour -1 pound (or approx. 3 cups) = approx. 4 cups flour -a rough approximation - a scant 2/3 c. wheat berries = 1 cup flour -60-pounds = 90 one-pound loaves (fits in a 7-1/2x3-1/2-inch loaf pan) -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Wheat Foods Council - Wheat Facts

Hi Sally, Grainlady has generously shared her knowledge with us, and often mentioned loaf pan sizes. On page 3, there's a thread about Homemade vs Storebought bread. This is an exerpt on one of Grainlady's responses: "A mistake often made, and why the dough doesn't seem to raise as high as you'd like, is from using the wrong amount of dough for the pan size. This is also the cause of over- or under-proofing. As an example: if you make a recipe that makes 1-1/2-pounds of dough (about 3-cups of flour in the recipe) and place it in a 9x5" pan (which are generally designed to be used for loaves of quick breads), that's the wrong pan for that amount of dough - a standard-size loaf pan is a better choice - 8-1/2x4-1/2". Jumbo pan - 10x4-1/2" - approx. 4-5 c. flour - 2+ pounds of dough Quick Bread Pan - 9x5" - 4 c. flour - 2# dough Standard Loaf - 8-1/2x4-1/2" - 3 c. flour - 1-1/2# dough Medium Loaf - 7-1/2x3-1/2" - 2-1/2 c. flour - 1# dough Small Loaf - 5-3/4x3-3/4" - 1-1/2 c. flour - 8 oz. dough"

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

Rye and Pumpernickel are the best breads to eat if you have diabetes. They are slower to break down and enter the blood stream. White, whole wheat and multi-grain break down quickly and cause a sudden rise in your blood sugar. sooey