Germans from Russia - Sauerkrautbrot

This is another bread popular among the Germans From Russia living in the high plains.

You can definitely see the Russian influence with the use of sauerkraut---which, by the way, both flavors and moistens the finished loaf. I have not seen, in the past, a Russian sauerkraut bread that included meat, so that might be a purely German inclusion.

The bread is based on a good white bread, so we’ll start with that first:

German White Bread

1 cup milk
¼ cup lard or shortening
¼ cup sugar
½ tsp salt\
½ cup cold water
½ tsp sugar
¼ cup warm water
1 pkg active dry yeast
4 ½-5 cups bread flour

Scald milk. Put the shortening, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the milk and cold water.

Mix the warm water and ½ tsp sugar in another bowl. Add the yeast and let it proof. Add yeast mixture to first mixture.

Stir in 2 ½ cups flour. Using your hands, work in two more cups of flour. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and satiny, adding more flour if needed. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled. Punch down and let rise again.

Preheat oven to 350F. Divide dough into two balls. Let rest five minutes. Shape into loaves and put into greased loaf pans. Let rise until doubled. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Sauerkrautbrot

1 lb finely cubed ham or 2 cups pork cracklings
2 cups sauerkraut, drained
1 recipe white bread dough

Boil the ham and kraut together for a few minutes (if using cracklings don’t boil them). Drain well.

Roll out each half of bread dough into a rectangle about ten inches wide and ½ inch thick. Spread each piece with half the ham & kraut mixture (or spread with the drained kraut and sprinkle the cracklings over it). Roll up as you would a jelly roll. Set on a prepped sheet pan, seam side down. Cover with greased plastic film and let rise until double in bulk. Bake at 350F 40-45 minutes.

Alternatively, roll the dough into five inch rounds, put some of the mixture on each round, fold dough over and pinch closes. Bake in oven until brown; fry in deep fat until brown on both sides; or steam as you would a bread dough dumpling. You also may omit the kraut and just use cracklings as a filling.