Jalapeno Cheese Bread

Who doesn't like some fresh hot bread?  While we like fresh bread I don't fix it that often because it is such a temptation to mow through the batch at one sitting.  There are, however, some meals that almost require bread.  Pasta is one such meal.

My jalapeno peppers have been very productive this year, as they usually are.  Over the past two weeks,  I've picked 11 pounds of jalapenos from 6 plants.  My good wife canned 18 half pints of jalapeno jelly last weekend.  I fired up the  smoker this weekend and smoked and dried a bunch of jalapenos for chipotles.  They'll be cooked into some adobo sauce to rehydrate and then get canned.  I've still got quite a few jalapenos in the basket and more will be ready to pick come Friday.  This past Saturday, our son and his fiance went to their local farmer's market and ended up buying a loaf of jalapeno cheese bread.

The thought of jalapeno cheese bread got my good wife drooling and thinking it would be a way to use up some jalapenos.  I asked what she wanted to accompany the jalapeno cheese bread she paused then said "Pasta!"  That resulted in one of our favorite pasta meals, spaghetti with pancetta and mushrooms.

A fine meal, full of flavor

The jalapeno cheese bread is a variation on a no knead recipe.  I did this for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost is that the no knead recipe produces good bread.  The other reason is that the recipes I found that were specifically for jalapeno cheese bread all took a long time.  The no knead method is less than 3 hours.

Jalapeno Cheese Bread

3 1/2 cups bread flour
13 ounces warm water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast (also called bread machine yeast)
1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
5 - 6 jalapeno peppers, sliced

Put the yeast and salt into a large mixing bowl.  Add the warm water and stir to make sure they are well combined.  Add the flour, cheese, and jalapeno peppers to the bowl.  Using the handle of a spoon, stir to combine all the ingredients.  Once all the ingredients are well combined, cover with plastic and let rise for 90 minutes.  In the oven with the light on is a good place to let it rise.  After the 90 minutes, use the spoon handle and start pulling and degasing the dough.  Sprinkle a little extra flour around the sides of the bowl and over top of the dough ball and give is a quick couple of rolls.  This should have the dough ball lightly coated so it doesn't stick to the bowl.  Dump dough ball onto a lightly floured work surface.  Divide the dough into 2 pieces.  Flour the cut surface of the dough then gently roll out into a slightly elongated loaf.  Cover the two loaves with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes.  Roll each loaf into a longer loaf, about 14 inches and place on parchment paper covered baking sheet.  Cover with the towel and let rise for 30 minutes.  Bake loaves in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Let rest at least 10 minutes after removing from the oven before slicing.

Fresh from the oven

Some of the peppers I cut in half lengthways before slicing and others were just sliced.  I did about half each way.  I left the seeds and ribs in the jalapenos.  As a result, some bites just had the flavor of the jalapeno and others had a bit of heat to go with the flavor.  If you don't want the heat just remove the seeds and ribs of the jalapenos.

Nice interior, but I cut it too soon and squished it a bit.

This could also be baked in a skillet for one large domed loaf.  To do this, lightly spray the skillet with non-stick and put the ball of dough directly into the skillet after rolling and coating in flour.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

In case you're wondering about the pasta dish, it is simple to throw together.  This makes enough for two good servings and a smaller serving left over for one lunch the next day.  Half a recipe of fresh spaghetti, probably 3 servings of dry spaghetti, cooked to al dente.  Dice 4 ounces of pancetta and sautee until lightly browned and remove from the skillet.  Slice 8 ounces of mushrooms and sautee them in the grease rendered from the pancetta, season with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.  Add the pancetta back to the skillet and stir to combine.  Remove the noodles from the water and put in the skillet.  Add some of the pasta water to the skillet and then stir to combine the noodles with the pancetta mushroom mixture.  The pasta water will cook away when everything is done.  Sprinkle on 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese and mix well.  Serve and enjoy.

I hope you give both of these recipes a try.  I think you'll be pleased with the results.

Uncle T