The reuben sandwich holds a special place in our hearts and stomachs. Our favorite pre-kid hangout had a killer Reuben on their menu, and it's something that if we're traveling and looking to split an entrée, Reuben is an easy "yes" from either of us.
After my flaxseed bread from a few weeks ago turned out so well, I spent some time perusing the other recipes from that bloggers page, "Pants Down Aprons On" (bonus points for clever risque name). I saw two other intriguing recipes: A rye bread...and a traditional kvass beverage made WITH some of the rye bread (which appealed to my husband the homebrewer). That's a two-fer, and I'm sold.
I did not deviate from the OG poster's recipe, so hop on over to that link if you want to check out the ingredient list. Note: this will make two sandwich loaves. We ended up freezing one for later.
Step 1 was to acquire all the extra crap I would need to make this, like whole coriander, caraway seeds, and molasses. For the former I hit up the bulk section at our favorite local whole foods store (Mama Jeans FTW!). However MJ's price on molasses was too high, so I bought that at Wally-World. Ideally, I would have loved to sub in some Steen's cane syrup but I don't have any on-hand. Since I stopped working on the project that used to take me back down to Louisiana once a quarter, the Cajun section of our pantry is sparse. Guess I need to schedule me a visit...
Step 2: Pre-ferment. This is not a step I've done on other recipes, and honestly, it totally threw me off guard. I pulled my starter out of the fridge the night before I planned to bake, to let it get up to room temp and become nice & active...then woke up, ready to bake, and discovered I'd skipped a step. Thankfully I was making this on a week while we were on stay-cation, so I ended up just postponing my bake by a day...but still, disappointing.
Step 2b: Rescue a dog. This is not actually a required step, but did end up being the thing we did that day rather than baking bread. There was a sweet puggle listed at our local Humane Society. It'd been about 6 years since our last pup passed away, Lil' Man is at a good age to help, and has finally gotten over his fear of dogs from getting bit when he was little...and there she was. It was fate.
Step 2c: Have your life partner smoke a brisket. Because you'll need that to make a Reuben.
Step 3: MAKE THE DOUGH in your largest bowl, because this is two loaves. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pre-ferment and mix, do some stretch & folds, then cover. It should look a bit like brownie batter but smell nothing like it. This was a VERY wet and sticky dough, but the recipe noted as much so I did most of my mixing with a spatula.
Step 4: Go run some errands like taking your new dog to the vet and groomer, and then come back to see THIS MONSTER. Divide into two greased loaf pans, add some extra caraway & coriander, cover and let proof overnight in the fridge.
Step 6: Bake, then remove from pans and let cool.
Step 7: Find things to eat with rye bread. I usually end up eating a lot of my sourdough slices toasted with some butter, but this bread has BIG flavor, and American butter is pretty tame in comparison. Thus, the reubens, and the tub of salmon cream cheese spread in my fridge.
Ruebens also require Russian dressing and sauerkraut...links take you to the two recipes I used for those. And if you're going to have sauerkraut around the house... might as well grill up some brats for your sis-in-law's birthday party.
Kvass recipe and results to come soon...
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