Hi Amy- I would recommend still going with the proper rise time when you are using whole wheat breads. They do often not rise as high as white bread due to the nature of the whole wheat flour, and I completely understand the efforts to get a little extra rise, but you may be compromising other factors in your bread by letting it over-proof a bit. In regards to the bubbles, I would make sure that you are really fully degassing the loaf before you shape it up, and then that should help a bit to keep those bubbles from persisting through the bake. Happy Baking! Jocelyn@KAF

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