homemade ryebread! don't tell the O Master - he'll stab you for it!
I'll make him some if he visits.
I have a Breadman, bread machine (I know, that's cheating) and about a hundred recipes, yet to try. There are five recipes that I use with consistently wonderful results, one of which is a yeasted whole rye recipe. The bread comes out extremely dark, doesn't rise much and is absolutely delicious!
i refuse to dignify even the mention of a bread m*****e, as it's heresy of the highest order. 
your rye bread sounds a bit like ruisreikaleipa (i think i've spelled that right, only without the dots - umlauts - hence it's new name "dotty bread"). it's a sourdough job, though, as well as yeast, and is completely scrumptious.
i have an, er, extensive collection of cookery books (not that i'm obsessed, or anything), one of which is just bread recipes - about 150 of the buggers, from around the world. 
That's why I admit it, openly.
Sorry, but I no longer have the time for kneading, rising, punching down, rising again, etc. Things changed in many ways with the joys of parenthood.
I used to make bread, the right way, a couple of times per week, when I was single. I made all kinds of big chewy, spicy, herbed-up pretzels, too. Talk about seduction by food offering ...
Worked like a charm.
I have not had good luck with sourdough attempts in Indiana. During the summer, it is easily contaminated by something we don't want and it doesn't really work well in the winter, because of the dryness of the air.
I have not tried rye, though. You have just inspired me to try again.
