Black and Bleu

i went through an intense bleu cheese phase in my life. there was nothing bleu cheese could not improve--sandwiches, wraps, chicken, stuffed mushrooms, my credit score.

that phase was followed by feta, then goat's cheese. right now i'm in a laughing cow phase. 

don't judge me, those things spread like magic.

during this phase i managed to find a bunch of black'n'bleu foods--burgers, sausages and chicken wings were the main ones. generally it was bleu cheese and a dark meat or dark peppery spices. always delicious.

there is a recipe for stilton and bacon bread. 

stilton is a specialty bleu cheese that is only made in a few towns in england.

die and go to heaven bread. nevereatanotherbreadinyourlife bread. 

i didn't buy stilton for this because its status as a bleu cheese already makes it a bit more costly and its status as a specialty blue cheese puts it out of the price range of an army family.

i bought castello blue cheese instead, which you can find at walmart. maybe not the best cheese ever, but it's going into bread paired with bacon. this cannot fail.

this bread will take 2 days to finish. ready? here we go

blue cheese and bacon bread

day 1:

1/2c warm water

3/4c white flour

2 tsp yeast

mix all of those into a bowl, cover and let sit in a warm spot overnight. by the next morning it should smell a little sour and beery--not rotten, mind you, but a bit like sourdough bread.

yours may look more or less wet than this. 

i recommend it be more on the wet side

day 2:

1 1/2c warm water

3 1/4c white flour

2 tsp yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

6-7 pieces bacon, cooked then crumbled

2-3oz crumbled blue cheese

add JUST THE WATER AND YEAST to the mix you made last night. let it sit and soak in for a minute or two, then start stirring mixture until it is no longer hard or clumpy. add the flour and salt, mix well. take it out and knead it for about 5-10 minutes, until it's smooth, a bit sticky, elastic, and moist. put the dough into a well greased bowl, cover and let sit in a warm place for 30 minutes.

this would be a great time to cook your bacon-- it provides a warm stove to put your dough on and 30 minutes is the perfect amount of time to cook all the bacon and get it on towels to drain and cool off.

take out your dough and divide it into two portions. knead the blue cheese into one of the portions:

chop up the bacon and knead it into the second portion of dough:

now knead the two together. i know, i know, "why not just knead it all in to one ball of dough at the same time??" i suppose you could, but doing each separately ensures that your crisp, somewhat sharp bacon won't attack and break down your cheese and it means that each bit of this bread will have a special mixed texture and separate tastes that will hit your tongue at different times.

once you've got the two well combined with one another, roll the dough into a log of sorts and put it into a well greased bread pan. let it rise for about an hour in a warm place.

cook your bread at 400 until golden brown.

now tell me that doesn't look delicious. 

you could obviously eat this bread alone with no regrets. but i was thinking some great toppers for this would be some thinly sliced peaches or peach jam or figs; it would also be an amazing nest for a little birdie or a great sandwich bread for some nice spicy lunch meat. E loves shredded chicken doused in buffalo wing sauce and garlic with a little bit of mozzarella. this would be an awesome bread for that sandwich too.

if it survives until lunch time, that is ;)