You want to choose bread that is both delicious and nutritious. You have read articles such as those published by the United States Department of Agriculture indicating that eating grains is an important part of a well-balanced diet and that whole grains are an excellent source of fiber. You narrowed down your choices to rye or multi-grain bread. Discovering the differences between these two types of bread will help you choose which bread is best for you.
Composition of the Flour
Rye flour is made from milling the berries of the rye plant, which is a cereal grain mixed with milled wheat. Whole grain rye flour contains the bran, or hard outer shell of the rye berry, and the germ, or inside part of the berry. Whole grain rye flour is often called dark rye, whereas light rye does not include the bran part of the rye berries. Like rye flour, multigrain flour that is whole grain contains both the bran and the germ, although not all multigrain flours are whole grain. Unlike rye flour, which just contains rye, multi-grain flour blends together several grains, such as wheat, spelt, rye, barley, oat and corn.
Composition of Dough
According to Bake Info, rye bread dough has smaller amounts of protein and less water than ordinary flour -- making weak, stiff dough. To prevent rye bread from being flat and sticky, preparation involves proving, or allowing extra time to let the yeast rise the dough, such as when you bake sourdough bread. Multigrain dough is also weak, because bran in the bread breaks up protein bonds. To help multigrain bread to rise, gluten is often added.
Iron, Protein and Calcium
According to the USDA nutritional database, both rye and wheat bread are good sources of protein, calcium and iron. There are comparable amounts of iron in both breads -- rye bread has 2.83 mg per 100 g while multigrain bread has 2.5 mg per 100 g. Multigrain bread has more calcium at 103 mg per 100 g while rye bread has 73 mg per 100 g. Multigrain has more protein -- 13.36 g per 100 g compared to 8.50 g per 100 g.
Calories from Fat
The USDA nutritional database lists multigrain bread as having slightly more calories and fat than rye bread. Multigrain bread has 265 calories per 100 g while rye bread has 258. The fat content of multigrain bread is 4.23 g per 100 g while the fat content of rye bread is 3.30 g per 100 g.
Flavor and Crust Comparison
Rye bread traditionally has a chewy crust while multigrain bread can have either a soft or a chewy crust, depending on how it is prepared. The taste of rye bread is always similar from loaf to loaf -- a slightly sweet taste of barley while the taste of multigrain bread varies from loaf to loaf, depending on the grains chosen and their quantities.
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