Rolled Up Reuben Loaf

I hadn’t made this rolled up bread loaf stuffed with classic Reuben sandwich ingredients in years. That’s my excuse for not remembering how excessively delicious it is. Really. Excessively!

To make this stuffed sandwich, I used homemade rye bread dough. In fact, I used this Caraway Rye Sandwich Bread that I recently published, just in time to refer to it here. Just in time to give you all the tools to make this Reuben Loaf. Did you see what I did there?

Anyway, making this recipe takes a bit of time and perhaps a little patience if you’re not accustomed to rolling out bread dough and layering delicious stuff inside. It also takes a bit of luck to move the stuffed dough to a baking sheet and to have it not bust open while baking. Both of those things happened to work out for me this time, so I’m excited about the whole thing.

As with all good recipes, however, the best part is eating it. This is just so good! It comes out of the oven as a hot and gooey sliceable loaf loaded with chopped corned beef, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese doctored up with a homemade 1000 Island dressing. Some of that dressing gets spread on the dough before baking and melds with the hot ingredients adding a perky lift to every bite. The rest is served on the side for dipping, allowing you to slather your modified sandwich with as much cool and tangy goodness as you can handle.

I offer this recipe to you as a St. Patrick’s Day meal, a replacement to corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes. There’s nothing wrong with that more traditional fare, of course, and if you happen to have made such a thing, you could use any leftover corned beef to make this Reuben Loaf a day or two later. A corned beef brisket just doesn’t fit into my lifestyle right now, however, so I made this loaf instead, using deli corned beef, which works out just fine. You could also use whatever bread dough or even pizza dough you like, even a frozen one.

And adding to, subtracting from, and modifying filling ingredients could keep your taste buds occupied for years. I’m hoping that happens to me!

Reuben Loaf

Adapted from a Food Network recipe that I found many years ago

I used deli sliced corned beef to make this, but chopped leftover corned beef would be great. Also, use whatever bread or pizza dough is easiest for you to get your hands on so you can enjoy this stuffed loaf!

1 cup mayonnaise

¼ cup sweet pickle relish, drained

3 pitted green olives, finely chopped

1 ½ teaspoon brine from the olives

¼ cup ketchup

1 recipe Caraway Rye Sandwich Bread dough, prepared through Step 4 and punched down (or 1 ½ pounds of other dough)

1 cup finely chopped corned beef (I used deli corned beef)

1 cup sauerkraut, well drained

¼ pound grated Swiss cheese

1. To prepare the dressing: in a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, relish, olives, olive brine, and ketchup. Mix well. Set aside. (This can be made ahead of time. Refrigerate if not using right away.)

2. On a well-floured surface, roll the bread dough into a 12 x 18-inch rectangle. Spread ½ cup of the dressing over the dough.

3. Layer the corned beef, sauerkraut, and cheese over the dressing.

4. Beginning with a long side, roll the dough up over the filling, tucking in the sides as you go. Form the roll into a tight log, pinching the ending edges to form a seam. Carefully lift the roll and place it on a lined or greased baking sheet, seam side down. Let stand for 20 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake the Reuben roll for about 30 minutes, or until the bread is crusty and browned and the filling is bubbling.

6. Remove from the oven and let stand about 10 minutes. Slice to serve. Refrigerate leftovers wrapped in foil and reheat in the oven.

Makes about 10 servings.

One year ago: Chocolate Irish Cream Cheesecake