Reuben Pizza with Marble Rye Crust

I'm happy to say I've finally made a pizza that I'm proud of (took me long enough)!

It's no secret I'm totally in love with Reuben sandwiches.  And I can't believe I'm saying this, considering I've eaten hundreds of Reubens, but this pizza might top them all.  The crust is both chewy, crispy and flavorful; the proportion of toppings to crust is perfect and it tastes just like it should.  I was so excited to eat this pizza, I only took one picture and dug right in!

I'll also say, this pizza was really quick and easy to make.  I can make tedious food but I prefer easy meals whenever possible.  The recipe's looking long right now because I blabbed on in detail, but trust me, it's simple.

Reuben Pizza (in honor of St Patrick's Day 2013!)

Marble "Rye" Pizza Crust

This isn't actually a rye crust because I used no rye flour.  But I did marble the crust with molasses and season it with caraway, so the flavor is very close to marble rye.

3/4 cup water at room temperature

2 cups bread flour

2 packed tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon caraway seed  

3 tablespoons dark molasses

4 tablespoons bread flour, plus more for dusting

 

In a medium sized pot or crock with a lid, stir together water, 2 cups flour, brown sugar, salt, yeast and caraway seeds using a wooden spoon.  The dough will be dry but you should be able to pick up all of the flour from the bottom and sides of the bowl.  Add sprinkles of water as needed and continue mixing until combined in a clump around the spoon.  Form the dough into a shaggy ball and place a lid on the pan.  Stick it in a cold oven with the light turned on for 8 hours.

Divide the dough in half.  Using a spoon, mix the molasses into one half of the dough for a minute.  It will be slimy and sticky.  Add the 4 tablespoons of flour and stir until roughly combined.  Turn the dark dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead a few times until pretty much smooth, adding flour as needed to keep it from being super sticky (the molasses will be streaky and the dough may be slightly rough).  Set aside.  Turn the light dough onto a well-floured surface and knead a few times until it smooths out a bit.  Form the doughs into 2 thick ropes about 12 or 16 inches long.  Coil the 2 ropes together and roll up or squish into a round ball.  Roll out with a rolling pin on a well-floured surface until the dough appears springy and begins to pull back into a smaller circle as you attempt to roll it out.  Now stop and let it rest while you prepare the rest of your pizza components.   

Thousand Island Dressing
Makes the perfect amount for this pizza; about 3/4 cup.

Using a fork or small whisk, mix all together in a bowl:
1/2 cup plus a few tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon red wine or rice vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons sweet and spicy relish
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Pinch of salt, garlic powder and onion powder

Toppings:

One recipe of Thousand Island dressing

1/3 pound shaved corned beef

2 cups sauerkraut, drained but not rinsed (Unless it's super sour, then rinse lightly and drain.  Also, try to use good kraut that has some visible spices in it.)

1 1/2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded

Assembly:

Preheat your oven to 425F with a pizza stone set in the bottom third of the oven.  Place a piece of parchment paper on a large sheet pan with no lip (so you can slide it from the pan to the stone).  Roll out your pizza dough to about the width of your pizza stone (typically 15 inches).  Place the dough onto the parchment.  Spread your Thousand Island sauce over the raw crust and lay half of the corned beef over the sauce.  Spread all of the sauerkraut over the meat and sprinkle with a cup of the cheese.  Place the rest of the meat over the cheese and spread the remaining cheese over the last layer of meat.

Slide the pizza, parchment paper and all, onto the preheated pizza stone.  (I guess you can slide it directly on the rack if you have no stone, but I haven't tried this.)  Bake the pizza for 20 minutes and check it for large bubbles in the crust.  Pop them if they're ridiculously huge.  Continue baking and checking every 5 minutes until the top is well browned and the crust is looking perfect around the edges.

Slide back onto the sheet pan, cool 10 minutes and serve.  Yum!

Enjoy!