Reuben on Braided Rye Danish

Leftover Corned Beef on a simple Rye Dough puts these Reubens right over the top! Our newest Westover Leftover

The newest Westover Leftover, using leftover Corned Beef.

     Almost everyone loves Reubens.  We had some leftover Corned Beef and Idecided to make a Braided Rye Danish.  Itwas out of this world.  If you don’t haveleftover Corned Beef, buy some from your local Deli.  The Dough is simple to make, so don’t be afraidto give this a try.  Serve with a niceGarden Salad or a bowl of Homemade Soup and you’re good to go! 

     The Dough is very forgiving.  Today I got interrupted so many times by thetelephone, the doorbell, the dogs, etc. Bob wasn’t here, or you can be sure he would have interrupted me too.  It normally isn’t the most advantageous thingto have to keep stopping during the kneading process or on the second rise, butit was perfect to spite everything.  Ireally enjoyed making this.  I hope youwill too!

     We’re kind of crazy, but we used Bob’s homemade Corned Beef and homemade Sauerkraut.  I’ve posted the recipes before.  If you need either you’ll find them in Google, Pinterest, or WordPress.  (or message me). 

YIELDS ENOUGH FOR 1 LARGE REUBEN BRAIDED DANISH.  It will serve 5-6 people, easily. 

DOUGH INGREDIENTS:

2 tsp Brown Sugar

1 ½ cups Warm Water, divided

4 ½ tsp Dry Yeast

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup unbleached AP Flour

1 tsp Salt

3 TBSP Olive Oil

2 cups Dark Rye Flour

1 tspDried Minced Onion (Optional)

1-2 tspCaraway Seeds (Optional)

FILLING INGREDIENTS:Everything is estimated because I didn’t measure

4 cupsCorned Beef, shredded

6 slicesSwiss Cheese

1 ½ cupsSauerkraut

I didn’t put any Thousand Island Dressing on itbecause I didn’t want to be in danger of having soggy Danish.  In addition, Bob likes Thousand Island, Ilike Catalina, others like Mustard. Serving the Dressing on the side at the table allows everyone to choosetheir favorite.

DOUGH PREPARATION:      Dissolve Brown Sugar in 1/2 cup barely Warm Water.  Sprinkle Yeast over the Water, and using the blade of a butter knife, stir well.  Scrape any Yeast that remains on the blade into the Water. (the small blade allows you to retain all the yeast instead of having it stuck to a spoon).  Let it sit for 5 minutes.  It will become very bubbly.

     Fit your dough hook on your heavy-dutymixer.  In mixer bowl, add all 3 Floursand Salt.  You can either turn the mixeron very low speed or use a whisk.  Youwant everything well incorporated. Create a well in the center and pour in the Olive Oil, remaining 1 cupWater, Dried Minced Onion, Caraway Seeds, and Yeast/Water mixture. 

     Begin on low speed until mixed well and adough ball forms.  Turn the speed up alittle and mix for 6-7 minutes.  This isa heavy dough, so it will flop around on you. I usually turn the mixer off every minute or so and let the dough fallback to the center of the bowl. If you want o knead by hand, feel free.  It will take a good 10 minutes depending onhow fast you knead. I knead like Speedy Gonzales.

     Roll dough into a ball and place back intothe mixer bowl which you will have greased with a light coating of OliveOil.  Cover with Plastic Wrap and aTowel.  Give it 1 – ½ hours to double insize.  Time will depend a lot on thetemperature in your kitchen.  When it’sready, remove towel and Plastic wrap. Make a fist and with the back of your fingers push the dough down torelease a lot of the air.  With thisdough you’ll have to do it in 3 or 4 places. Cover again and let it rise for another 15 minutes or so.

     Preheat the oven to 500° F now. If you have a large stoneware baking sheet, that goes in the oven whileyou’re preheating. You can dust it with corn meal if you’d like.

     If you don’t have a large stoneware bakingsheet, use a half sheet and lay Parchment Paper on it.

ASSEMBLY:

     I don’t like to roll dough.  I think it squishes all the lovely airpockets out.  It was very easy to spreadthe dough into a 12” x 20” rectangle just using my hands and finger tips.  So, lay out a sheet of Parchment Paper andpress the dough trying to keep the edges straight.  (Unfortunately,I didn’t get any photos of the beginning process because my camera battery wasdead.)  If you’re baking on a half sheet,lay that on the counter, Parchment on top and continue on with the next steps.

     After you’ve shaped the Dough lightlyscore a 4” section right down the middle of the Dough.  Don’t cut all the way through it.  You just need to score it so you have aguide.  Now, cut strips from your scoremarks to the outer edge of the Dough. This time you will cut all the way through and you want to do them about¾” wide.  These will be the strips forbraiding.

     Lay the Corned Beef down first, and staybetween your 4” score marks.  SwissCheese goes next.  I folded each slice inhalf.  Some of them will overlap, butthat’s fine.  Sauerkraut goes ontop. 

     Now you will cross the strips you cutacross the filling.  Do one strip fromthe right side, then do one strip from the left side.  Keep going until you reach the end.  To have pretty finished ends, I took the“tail” of the dough, folded that up over the fillings.  Then I crossed the last few strips.  It looked neater that way.  Usuallythe ends are folded under the Danish, but with all the fillings, I didn’t wantthe ends to be higher than the rest of the Danish.  This worked out perfectly. You’re going to dothe same thing at the other end of the Danish also.

Your ovenshould be good and hot now.  Pick up theParchment Paper and your Danish and quickly lay it on the baking stone.  Make sure you support the bottom while you’removing it.  It might sag and tear otherwise.I used one hand and let the Danish lay across my other hand and wrist to moveit.  If you’re using the half sheet, justput it in the oven.  Baking time willvary.  I believe you should startwatching it at about 20 minutes, although it won’t be done yet.  Everybody likes their Rye a littledifferent.  Some like it very browned,others not so much.  I let mine cook for about30 minutes.

    Serve with a salad or soup.  Always put an assortment of Dips out.  Thousand Island is the traditional, but I like Catalina.  Mustard is another very popular Reuben condiment. 

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