Rye
Posted by Avi
Sunday March 20, 2011The Reuben. It’s one of my favorites at a diner. With fries (or onion rings), a pickle spear, and a root beer (or a real beer).
But I’ve never made this sandwich at home. It can’t be that hard, right? I can think of only five ingredients: rye bread, corned beef or pastrami, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian or Thousand Island dressing.
This week, blogger Cathy Erway made Corned Beef on Rye with Mustardy Coleslaw & Caramelized Onions. I like this combination: a raw item (coleslaw) to contrast the meat and bread. She uses store-bought rye and her own slaw.
Obviously, making a Reuben gets a little more complicated if you bake your own bread. If that’s your style, though, this recipe from Praire Home Cooking could be the one to use: Sauerkraut Rye Bread.
I love author Judith Fertig’s description of this bread. Makes me hungry.
This is a great Old World bread for sandwiches of grilled bratwursts and horseradish or of shaved ham and mayonnaise. Cocoa powder, the surprising ingredient here, deepens both the color and the flavor of the bread.
Sauerkraut Rye Bread
Makes 1 loaf
½ cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons light unsulphured molasses
2 teaspoons quick-rising active dry yeast
1¼ cups bread flour, or more if necessary
1 cup whole wheat bread flour
1¼ cups rye flour or pumpernickel flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons caraway seeds
1¼ teaspoons salt
¾ cup chopped sauerkraut, drained with ½ cup of the sauerkraut liquid reserved
½ cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons canola oil or safflower oil
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1. Stir together the lukewarm water and molasses in a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the top; do not stir. Set aside for at least 5 minutes to proof to a foamy consistency.
2. Stir together the 1¼ cups bread flour and the whole wheat bread flour, rye flour, cocoa, caraway seeds, and salt in a large bowl. With an electric mixer, mix in the sauerkraut and its reserved liquid, buttermilk, oil, and mustard. Add the yeast mixture and mix well to form a stiff dough, adding more bread flour if necessary. Turn out the dough onto a floured board and knead for 5 minutes, or until the dough becomes soft and elastic. Lightly oil a large bowl, and transfer the dough to the bowl. Cover with a tea towel, and let the dough rise in a warm place until it is doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Punch the dough down and let it rise, covered with a tea towel, until it is again doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly oil a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan.
3. Transfer the dough to the loaf pan. Bake the bread for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a thump with your fingers yields a hollow sound. Remove from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool.
VARIATION: To make with a bread machine, add all of the ingredients to the machine’s bread pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Use the whole wheat cycle with the medium crust setting. Because the moisture content of the sauerkraut may vary, you might have to add a bit more bread flour if the sauerkraut is on the wet side. Check the dough after 5 minutes on the knead cycle and, if it is sticky and has not formed into a ball, sprinkle in more bread flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is firm enough.
I love rye bread — and usually use Beth Hensperger’s recipe from The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook. But this looks really interesting with the sauerkraut added in.