Ha ha I kid… Just wanted to bring you, our faithful readers reader up to date on where we left off… bread wise…

But a quick question… why is it we baked our tookus off in the hot summer months, but winter hits and we get lazy? Must have something to do with that abuse we so love… Anyone else like this or am I just missing all your BBA posts? Anyway, we picked back up with the Potato Rosemary Bread. And you all thought we forgot about it. We are very devil may care. We don’t follow the rules here. We bake what we want, when we want – so if we are all willy nilly bouncing from like page 234 to page 240 and back to page 236 then that is the kind of mad cap behavior we are going to do ALL RIGHT? (The page numbers I used are not the actual page numbers we bounced too and fro from just an example so don’t send me an email saying that the potato rosemary bread is not on those pages… I don’t know what page it is on. Check the TOC. I am in Chicago and the book is in Indiana… being crabby…)

It was really a very good bread. I found that – I don’t know – due to the potato it didn’t get crispy on the outside like some of my favorite breads have. Of course if memory serves me it wasn’t hearth baked. (If I am wrong, someone kindly chastise me in the comments. Thanks in advance!) SO if I made it again, I may attempt to do it like that so that I can get that crunchy crust, as opposed to the soft doughy one we achieved. It was really tasty none the less.

It made a lot so I schlepped a loaf back to Chicago with me. And then I made croutons with that loaf. AND THEN I made the most delicious savory bread pudding out of those croutons, thus making it less about the bread, and more about my complete prowess in the kitchen… hells yea!

This recipe calls for the use of four 6 – 8 oz ramekins. And is realllllly easy.

Ingredients to collect

4 eggs
1 1/4 c whole, yes whole, milk (Add 1/4 c more of you want a more gooey pudding.)
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 c grated cheddar
2 cups potato rosemary croutons (See note)
4 scallions, diced
optional: 3/4 c cooked and crumbled pork sausage, bacon, chicken, etc.

What to do what to do…

In a bowl, whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper.

In another bowl, combine croutons, scallions, cheese and meat o’ choice.

Place ramekins on a cookie sheet, and spray or butter each. Next, over fill each with the crouton cheese scallion meaty mixture.

Slowly and as evenly as possible, pour the egg mixture over the croutons in the ramekins till full. Gently push down the croutons. Let sit for 20 minutes.

While waiting for the croutons to soak up the all that yummy egg, preheat your oven to 375°. Gently push down the croutons again, and then place in oven. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden and set. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Chow down.

Oh wait! Note: You can use any bread you want. Just rip or cut it into bite sized pieces and allow to dry out in the oven till crouton-ey. If you use a non-herbed bread, the incorporation of say 2 t of herbs such as chives or parsley or rosemary or whatever you like, is a good idea…

The really nice thing about these is that once cooled, they pop so nicely out of the ramekins and you have this portable breakfast muffin of sorts. I would ASSUME you could make these the night before and then refrigerate and take them to work for breakfast on the run. I have not tried this as – ha ha – get this – I make ONE at a time and presently work in my skivvies. But when I DO start needing breakfast to go, which is hopefully nearer then I think, I will give the ole’ make in advance trick a try.

Be careful tho, one peek of these by a co-worker and I bet you are expected to bring enough for the whole class…

And for those of you who want to bake every bread known to man and keep King Arthur flour in business, pick up a copy of The Bread Bakers Apprentice by Peter Reinhart and bake along with us as part of the Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge.

While I think here is a picture of a jellyfish we saw at the Shedd Aquarium….

I still got nothing so time to trudge through.

Who does not like beer and cheese?  If so wait a couple more days because I am sure Heather is going to post up some foo foo muffins or cupcakes for you to enjoy.  Heck that is going to be the hardest part of this joint blog because my blog was a testament to everything meat and hers is well *barf* baking.  I am going to have to try extra hard to keep my carnivore lovers happy.

Well work beckons………….I love my job I love my job I love my job………..

For this recipe you will need:

• 1 onion grated
• 1 rib of celery grated
• 1 carrot grated
• 3 cloves of garlic grated
• 2 bay leaves
• Couple sprigs of thyme
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1.5 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 bottle of beer (I used a hoppy Oktoberfest from a local brewery that for some reason the name is escaping me)
• 2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 lb of extra sharp cheddar cheese grated
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• Kosher salt and black pepper

Steps:

• Over low heat in a medium sauce pan add in the 1/4 cup of butter and once melted add in the carrot, onion, and celery.  Cook for 5-10 minutes.
• Add in the garlic and cook for another minute.
• Sprinkle the flour over and stir around for a couple minutes.  If the mixture seems to dry add in more butter.
• Lower the heat and add in the beer, broth, milk, cream, bay, Worcestershire, mustard, and thyme.
• Cook until heated through (about 15 minutes).
• Add in the cheese a handful at a time and do not add in more cheese until the previous handful has melted.
• Serve with pepper, more cheese, bread, bacon, whatever the freak your little heart desires.