Does anyone have a recipe for sauerkraut rye bread? I have tried it with a recipe I have and it always turns out like a brick and so dense. I have even dehydrated the sauerkraut before adding it to the rye bread ingredients. Any suggestions? I fell in love with this bread when I tried it from a bakery in northern Wisconsin
There is another thread about sauerkraut in bread: here is the link.
In the thread there is note of a recipe that someone makes, but she notes that the bread is “flatish”.
I’m wondering if your recipe and maybe yours have a lot of rye to white flour ratio. Rye is tricky anyway … I don’t think the sauerkraut itself is going to make a bread flat … but maybe the fermentation in the 'kraut along with starter moves things along faster. Do you think maybe your tries were over proofed and thus nothing left to give in the oven?
My suggestions, baring someone having a recipe that has worked well for them:
30-40% rye max and the rest white flour
keep a close eye on the bulk and after shape rise … go for a bit under proofed vs over.
I like this light deli rye from The Rye Baker blog and as I have a lot of rye and I make my own sauerkraut … maybe I’ll give a rye sauerkraut a go and report back 
I have the light rye in progress … I started this morning with a full recipe, but at the 3rd stage divided what amounts to a rye levain and divided in 1/2. 1/2 per recipe and 1/2 with 1 cup of my homemade sauerkraut. For the half with sauerkraut, I baked off water by 30g and no salt since my 'kraut has salt. BUT, vs baking in the 8 hour timeframe, I refrigerated shaped loaves and will bake tomorrow (Tuesday in MDT US) time which I hope allows some healthy fermentation as well as flour absorbing liquid. We will see!
Meanwhile, as I was trying to find something to guide me on how much sauerkraut, I came across this recipe which is a semi-enriched dough with some brown sugar/molasses and maybe a lean towards a pumpernickel.
That got me to wondering … is the bread you fell in love with a little dark and a little sweet?
The results of my “light deli rye” experiment with 1/2 dough per recipe and 1/2 dough with 1 cup sauerkraut, no salt (because of salt in sauerkraut) and water reduced by 30 grams: rise is fine, the sauerkraut dough was much wetter so probably would reduce water another 30 grams if I did it again. I didn’t notice much difference in taste. The 'kraut loaf is softer.
Top loaf is sauerkraut, bottom is per recipe. Top loaf baked in oblong baker and bottom kind of free-shapped/baked in dutch oven.