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Recipe: savory bread pudding

I had attempted a savory bread pudding earlier in the year, only to discover that marjoram tastes like soap and ruined the whole dish for me. I swore to myself that my next version would include bacon and omit marjoram. And indeed, I did just that and then some. I am a huge fan of sweet bread puddings. I prefer to work with chocolate when making desserts, but I love to eat non-chocolate desserts, if that makes any sense? So I thought that a savory bread pudding with some of my favorite ingredients would work out.

the cheeses and green onions

I replaced 2 cups of swiss with 2 cups of gruyère because I love the intensity of a good cooked gruyère. And I used broccoli instead of asparagus (because broccoli was on sale), and added mushrooms and of course – the beloved bacon. All hail the piggy! Such a magical animal…

an undeniably delicious combination

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Recipe: sticky buns

I haven’t done any yeast doughs since we moved from sea-level. If you consider the pizza dough we make, it isn’t actually we, but Jeremy who makes that. I really love the yeasty smell and flavor of home baked breads. I tend not to bake breads because I know I’ll just end up eating them. I’m a sandwich whore. The other main deterrent for not baking breads is that I wasn’t a seasoned bread baker at sea-level and then tossing our elevation into the mix makes for quite some uncertainty. We’re not even at a “nice” elevation like 5000 feet which is what “high altitude” directions usually target. 8500 feet delves into the realm of “who the hell lives up there?” We do.

get that yeast action going

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It’s cold. I mean, it’s the kind of cold that will make our roof pop and make loud cracking sounds in the night because of shrinkage. But it’s beautiful outside.

yes, that thermometer reading was zero as of this afternoon

experimental recipe
I had fresh cranberries to use up and I wanted to bake something to warm the house a little. I wasn’t interested in the ubiquitous orange cranberry bread that’s all over the web. So I found a recipe that was more bready than quick bready – if that makes any sense. I didn’t have lemon rind on hand, so I used lime.

cranberries are beautiful in cross section

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