Boozy Breads

The theme for August's Bread Baking Day (#33) is Breads with Booze, hosted by Adriana of by Baking Powders.


What you see above is my favorite sandwich, a reuben, full of pastrami, gruyere, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing. This is my benchmark sandwich. I make a thumbs-up or thumbs-down review on any new reuben-offering restaurant by how good the sandwich is.



When I was looking for a bread recipe to meet this month's requirements, I ran across Caraway Cheese Loaf in one of my cookbooks. It's a hearty bread with Swiss cheese, caraway seeds, and dark beer. Perfect match.


My daughter sacrificed one of her Pipeline Porters.




I had gruyere on hand, so I substituted that for the Swiss cheese.


I pulled out my bread machine, added the ingredients, and pushed the button.


Because I wanted to make sandwiches, I used the standard 9x5 bread tin.



The kitchen smelled more heavenly than usual while the bread was baking.




After a short wait, until the bread was cool enough, I sliced it open to try a piece. It tasted like a reuben sandwich just by itself.


The rest is history. For three days straight, I practiced my reuben-sandwich techniques, each sandwich better than the one before. At its best, it rivaled the one from my local deli, which has the best reuben to be found anywhere in the west.



So, Caraway Cheese Loaf is my submission for Bread Baking Day #33. Thanks to Adriana for hosting, and to Zorra for creating this great, monthly bread-baking event.


Caraway Cheese Loaf

¾ cup shredded Swiss Cheese

3 tablespoons bread flour

1 ¼ cups dark beer

1 egg

3 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon caraway seed, crushed

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

In a small mixing bowl, toss together the Swiss cheese and the 3 tablespoons of bread flour. Place the remaining ingredients in your bread machine bowl, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Add the Swiss cheese mixture. Select the manual cycle.

When the manual cycle has finished, remove the dough, shape, and let rise for about 45 minutes.

Bake at 375°F for about 40-45 minutes, or until the internal temperature is between 190°F and 200°F.

Remove from oven; remove from pan and let cool on a rack.