With a golden-brown crust and a soft inside, this flavorful combination of rye flour and caraway seeds is the perfect loaf to be sliced thick for home-made reuben sandwiches. 

One of our favorite sandwiches is an East Coast style reuben with the rye sliced thick and everything piled high. Up here in the Arctic, the only way to get a sandwich like that is to make it ourselves. So, based on several recipes and my own calculations, I created a rye bread recipe for my Zojirushi “dough machine.” After four years of fairly heavy use (we bake all our own breads), this built-like-a-tank bread machine is still going strong. After it had done its magic, I kneaded the dough once more by hand and shaped it into an oval for one last rise.

I gave the dough two quick slashes, brushed it with egg, popped it in the oven and 35 minutes later our kitchen was filled with the delicious aroma of freshly baked rye bread – the final ingredient for our “up-town” Arctic lunch of hot tomato soup and reubens! Our recipe for DIY sauerkraut to follow.

Bread Machine Rye Bread

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp melted unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup rye flour
• 1 tbsp caraway seeds (a few more for the top)
• 1 envelope active dry yeast
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1  1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg (to brush the top of the loaf)

Directions

1. Place all items except the last egg in the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer.
2. Set machine to dough setting.
3. Start machine.
4. Remove dough from machine and place onto lightly floured board. Knead dough a few times and shape into ball.
5. Place dough ball on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise until almost doubled in size.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Slash a big X on top of loaf.
8. Brush loaf with egg and sprinkle a few more caraway seeds on top of loaf.
9. Bake for 35 minutes. Finished loaf should should have a golden brown crust and sound hollow when tapped.