I have been on a quest for the perfect Reuben sandwich for 3 years, ever since tasting the amazing version at Lucky's Cafe in Cleveland. The basic elements of the Reuben may seem pedestrian: rye bread, corned beef, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing, and cheese. However, each element, when done right brings complex flavors and loads of unctuous umami. This Reuben is the product of my DIY quest: built from scratch from sourdough rye through home cured corned beef and everything in between. If you want to go whole-hog DIY, follow the links in the ingredients section back to the recipes to make your own scratch made versions. Any element you make from scratch is going to make a big difference in your final product. This Oktoberfest, celebrate with an old classic, done right.  

We've made somewhat of an art form of converting leftover ingredients into individual lunches and sometimes even spunky new dishes, like this comfort classic: Skillet Mac & Cheese with Rye Bread Crumbs.  This rye crusted dish is a savory answer to what to do with two-day-old homemade bread: pulse it up, mix in butter, salt and cheese and use it as a flavorful topping. We paired the sour and caraway laced crumbs of homemade sourdough rye bread with a sumptuous homemade macaroni and cheese that Paul whipped up stove-top while the oven preheated.  The combination of creamy, subtle local cheeses and pungent crunchy bread crumbs was lovely. We used a 50/50 blend of two local cheeses. One was a mild farmer's cheese, which gave a smooth creaminess to the sauce. The other was a young asiago, which added a subtle nutty sharpness. Feel free to use your favorite cheese, but try to stick with ones that will melt smoothly.  It may be spring, but we are are not done with creamy comfort foods yet!

Last year I began the quest for the perfect Reuben sandwich. It was inspired by a visit to Lucky's Cafe in Cleveland. The first aspect to master was a sourdough rye -- hearty yet yielding, sour but with a grainy sweetness, earthy and clean, chewy and light. After over a year of tweaking, I've developed this no-knead continuous-ferment sourdough rye.  It builds on the sage sourdough advice of Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice and no-knead approach of Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois's  Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Here's how I do it...