Let's Get Baked

So my weakest skill in all of my cooking abilities has got to be baking.  There is no denying it, I understand that in theory all you have to do is follow directions but I guess that is where my problem lies... shocker.

One of my favorite reads in all of the interweb is the Homesick Texan blog, a great collection of recipes and articles.  That is where I stumbled on this recipe for a Jalapeno Cheese Bread and quite frankly I could not deny my chance to flex my baking muscles.

Yes that is semolina flour, a flour made from durum wheat, do not ask for further information because beyond that I could not tell you what the heck it is.  It certainly does have a nice yellow color to it but who knows what it does to a loaf of bread.  Bakers feel free to enlighten me some day but for now ignorance is bliss.

Normal people have a mixer, I have my man paw and it makes a mean ball of dough.

Always make sure to let the dough rise, if you are a poor bachelor like myself you might be limited on places to leave the dough to rise while you work on a second loaf.  The pantry is a perfectly acceptable if you need a random shelf to hide it.

PSA #1: while working with peppers you should wear a glove, otherwise if you wear contacts like I do you will regret this decision not to for a while, in between your tears and inability to see a dang thing.

After mixing the peppers and cheese into the bread I would recommend covering the loaf in another layer of cheese, I am sure it is healthy, and who does not love a nice crispy cheese crust.  If you do not like the idea of a cheese crust please stop reading this and go away never ever to speak to me again.

Because then you get this beautiful thing.  It may be a dense loaf, but it is a cheesy jalapeno filled brick that works for so many things.

Now time to change up the recipe with loaf numero dos.

PSA #2: Do not forget about the dough that you have rising i the pantry because then it gets tough and and not so easy to knead for those of us who do it all by hand.

So for this second recipe I replaced the cheese and jalapenos with cinnamon and sugar in order to create a dessert alternative for bread.  A little bit of melted butter works wonders (I modeled the recipe idea after watching cinnamon rolls getting made on Man Vs Food at Lulu's in San Antonio) to mix in the cinnamon and sugar and coat it all of the loaf, constantly folding in layer upon of layer of awesome.

Then bam you get this.

A dense sweet bread that works for breakfast or dessert, win win win.

So maybe even someone who sucks at baking can succeed once in a while, I might not volunteer to share these loaves with people, but they sure do look good.

PSA #3: Making bread is messy, especially when I do it.  It is always important to have the proper PPE (that is safety talk for personal protective equipment) and in this case it was an apron, safety glasses probably would not have been a bad idea either.

Thanks Kevin for making yet another appearance through this awesome apron... yes you can be jealous of my Star Wars apron because it is awesome.