The Fugue

My wife is out of town, which means you can bet your britches I'm eating all the stuff she doesn't like this weekend. You know, like sauerkraut, corned beef, swiss cheese, rye bread. Hey, those are the basic building blocks of one of the most delicious sandwiches ever invented: The Reuben.

This post isn't about the Reuben. It's about the rye bread I used to make the Reuben. It turned out very well. Here's the recipe I used, which I adapted from somebody's New York Style Jewish Rye recipe:

300g 100% start
560ml water (2 1/3 cups)
1 T sugar
2 c light rye flour
2 T kosher salt
2 T caraway seeds
4.75 c flour

I didn't want three bâtards though, so I thirded the recipe. I mixed the dough for a few minutes in the mixer. I had to add some flour, but the dough was still plenty wet. Oh, and sugar is boring and my honey was crystallized so I used molasses instead. I stuck it in the fridge for five or so hours and took it out just before going to bed. When I woke up I preheated the oven at 400 for 20 minutes then baked under cloche for 10 minutes, then without cloche to an internal temperature of 200 F.

It's delicious, but next time I'll use just a tad less salt and caraway. Incidentally, caraway is the taste you probably associate with rye bread, not the rye itself. There was no oven spring to speak of, I think because it was just barely overproofed, in spite of starting the proof cold. I guess I'll just have to sleep less or proof during the day.