Hi, Breadtopians. I’ve been experimenting with pickling this summer and one of the things I’ve made successfully has been sauerkraut. It’s not something that I eat much of, I made it just to see if I could and now I’m looking for ways to use it. I think I’ve heard of it being used in bread. Has anyone ever tried it in a sourdough loaf? Any comments or recipes would be great! Thanks!
I saw that a guy named mark_omerso on Instagram made kimchi whole wheat sourdough breads. If you scroll back through his feed to late March maybe, you’ll see it in action…grilled cheese with kimchi bread yum. Sauerkraut would be a close cousin…
Thanks, Melissa, found it. Mark Omerso has some seriously beautiful bread. Kimchi is also on my list to try. Not sure if I’m brave enough to put garlic and hot pepper in bread. I actually just found a recipe for a sourdough rye with sauerkraut in Stanley Ginsberg’s “The Rye Baker” that I will try. If it works out, I’ll post it.
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I am a huge sauerkraut fan so have no difficulty eating quite a lot of it. I make my own and I buy Bubbies. I do think it would work in bread and be very good in a rye… BUT, I think baking might kill off the good bacteria that is so beneficial to the gut. I love kraut so will toss it on top of anything. If you like rye and use caraway and so like caraway … some caraway seeds with kraut is good.
Hi, anon66425146. I’ll let you know how it works in the rye. I like my rye with caraway too, so will definitely include some in the bread and try some with the sauerkraut. I’m sure you’re right about the beneficial bacteria being killed during baking, same is true for the sourdough, but the good thing is that those bacteria make a lot of nutrients more bio-available before they bite the dust. Do you have any n suggestions of good vegetarian ways to eat sauerkraut?
I eat omnivore but I love all kinds of beans and often make a bean-grain-veg “pilaf” or stir fry and put a spoonful of 'kraut on top of that. I’ll also put a spoonful on top of soup or have a dish at the side and add a bit of 'kraut to spoons of soup. I particularly like it on top of tomato based soups with a little sour cream. And speaking of sour cream … sour cream and kraut alone or on top of a veg mix. I do like grilled cheese with sauerkraut and mustard on any kind of sourdough. If you like potato-egg breakfasts … a spoonful on top. And I top salads with kraut and caraway seeds. If I don’t feel like fooling with grilled cheese, I’ll put some kraut on toast with a bit of cheese on top, i.e. kraut and cheese on toast. Kraut and beets is a good combo if you like beets … another thing that people either love or hate and I love them! Guess, I’ll stop here as I’m sure you get the idea 
Lots of great sauerkraut ideas, thanks!
I finally baked a loaf of Stanley Ginsberg’s Sauerkraut rye. It turned out quite well, if a little flatter than other rye breads I’ve made. I’m not sure that I would have guessed that there was sauerkraut in it from the taste, although a friend who I shared it with said she could taste it. Either way, it made a very tasty rye bread which was still moist on the 5th day. I haven’t baked enough with rye to know if that is the nature of rye bread or if the sauerkraut kept it fresh so long.
Interesting - thanks for sharing your results!
One of the problems with baking with sauerkraut is that you destroy all the pro biotic atttributes. Instead, make a panini with your bread and cheese and your sauerkraut, and what ever else you enjoy. It’s fantastic and still has some probiotic goodness.
Great idea! Or even better, bake it into the bread and then make a cheese and sauerkraut panini! And if I make it with Russian Dressing, it would be a Reubenini. Love it!
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