Every Thursday afternoon (except on Superbowl Sunday), a group of very nice folks gathers together behind a local neighborhood pub, fire up a Weber® grill, bring out their contributions, usually sausages, marinated meats, shrimp and other delights for the fire.
I bring Jalapeño-cheese sourdough bread (and sometimes smoked-pepper sourdough). If I don’t show up for a week or two, when I return, there are comments about how much they missed the bread. Not me, just the bread.
The Contents Herein
The Introduction
The Overview
About dehydrating
Act I — The Jalapeño
Act II — The Cheese
Neat tricks for clean-up
Act III — The Bread
Technobabble
The Introduction
This recipe was developed especially for this group. It has been tested and adjusted over some months, with the goal of perfection, my partners in social libation being the arbiters. Some months ago, they declared I should stop fiddling with the recipe, it didn’t need any more adjustments. They were dead serious. This could be considered a compliment. Once I ran short of bread flour and used all-purpose. They noticed.
This bread was developed for toasting on the grill. Untoasted it tastes awful. Trust me on this. Do not allow anyone to taste it untoasted lest they think your marbles have wandered off without you.
Some folks have gently urged me to share this recipe. I have been reluctant, not because of a desire for exclusive notoriety but because of the amount of effort to make it. Since I bake (and dehydrate) on a regular basis, it’s not such a big deal for me. This is not stir and heat cooking. But here it is, judge for yourself.
The Overview
It’s like a play with three acts
Act I
Buy a gallon of nacho-sliced jalapeños.
Dehydrate them.
Chop and store.
Act II
Buy a coupla pounds of cheese.
Grate.
Dehydrate and store.
Act III
Re-hydrate jalapeños and cheese with sherry.
Prepare bread dough for kneading
Add re-hydrated jalapeños and cheese.
Knead and finish the bread.
For the bread making I refer you to Larry’s Sourdough Bread Method for the way I make sourdough bread. However this recipe would probably work with a regular bread recipe. Let us know.
About dehydrating
I use L’Equip dehydrators. Although they come with six trays, L’Equip claims that up to twenty can be used. Wanting additional trays, but at over $25 a pair, I found a seller with open box and got an entire second dehydrator for $85. I have only used the L’Equip dehydrators, so I cannot compare them with any others.
I also dehydrate onions for sourdough bread, which is more popular than my regular sourdough. For more on the onions and dehydrating, see How To Make Dehydrated Onions. For onion bread and pepper bread see Onion and Pepper Variations on Larry’s Sourdough. O.K., enough promotion.
Part 2: How To Dehydrate Jalapeños
Want more like this? For more recipes like this, that you can hold right in your hands, and write on, take notes, tear pages out if you want (Gosh, you're tough on books, aren't you?) you might be interested in How To Cook Like Your Grandmother, 2nd edition, Illustrated. Or to learn your way around the kitchen, check out Starting From Scratch: The Owner's Manual for Your Kitchen.
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6 Comments
Drew… This sounds like the most incredible thing the world has ever seen. I know I would mess this up, but my mouth is watering right now. I can’t wait to learn more about this, then find someone who wants to tackle it. Keep up the great work!
Must make this. Cheese, peppers, bread! My favorite things!
And don’t forget: Leads to grilling.
Gorgeous!!
curious why the use of dehydrated jalapeno and cheese. stronger flavor? would it taste great ungrilled were one to use non-dehydrated ingredients?
Hi Mike…
Dehydrated cheese intensifies the flavor without adding moisture and bulk to the sponge. It also keeps the cheese from dissolving into the bread when it’s being baked, so it can be seen when finished. You can use non-dehydrated cheese but it will be necessary to adjust the recipe and kneading slightly.
Dehydrated jalapeños just taste better. Especially reconstituting them with sherry or even dry vermouth. The “heat” changes from a quick spike to a slower, lower rise then fall⋯very pleasing. And for regular baking as I do, they are easier to handle.
I’m not sure why un-grilled it tastes less appealing. I always only made it for the grill and one day I tasted it before grilling―ugh! I asked the “head griller” if he tasted it, and he said the same thing. I think it just needs a second dose of heat, so a pass through the toaster would probably do.
I would guess it’s the cheese that the cause of off flavor. After Drew’s latest posts, I’ve been thinking about mango-jalapeño sourdough…
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