The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Bacon

FlourChild's picture
FlourChild

In addition to Breadsong's post and Toad.de.b's post, I have a couple more loaves to add from Ken Forkish's Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast.  

I have to say I've really been enjoying baking from this book, it has opened up my repetoire to include a style of SD bread featuring low levain amounts (only 10-12% of the main dough flour is used to build the levain) and extended bulk ferments.  This style is different from Hammelman, and bears some resemblance to Chad Roberston's loaves, though Mr. Forkish seems to be a better teacher and to include more of the details needed for a novice to succeed.  The only drawbacks- and they are small compared to the deliciousness of his breads- are the narrow scope of recipes (no soakers, high percentage rye, brioche, baguette or long loaves, olive bread, fruit & nut bread, croissants, etc.) and the "supersize" scale of both levains and recipes (every recipe is made with 1,000 grams of flour).  

First up is the Bacon Sourdough, which I have to say is one of the best tasting loaves that has ever graced my kitchen.  I followed this recipe to the T, even mixing up the large levain.  Since I like bread best on the day it's baked, I generally prefer to bake smaller amounts more frequently and am not set up for this quantity of dough, so it was a bit of a hassle to find or jerry-rig enough containers, baskets, dutch ovens, proofers, etc.  But the incredibly moist crumb and crisp, red-brown crust on this loaf were superb, and the bacon hit just the right note- plenty to appreciate, but in balance with the crust and crumb flavors.  The photos on this are only of a small demi-loaf made of dough that I siphoned off of the two larger loaves; I wanted a small loaf to try the bread, as the two large loaves were given away as gifts.

The glossy, translucent walls on the larger holes:

The bubbles on the crust:

 

Next up is the Overnight Brown, a pure levain dough with 30% whole wheat.  For this bake, I decided to scale things back and also tried some whole grain spelt instead of traditional red wheat for the 30% whole grain portion of the dough.  For the scaling, I only made one loaf (50% of the main dough) and scaled back the levain to just a little more than what I needed for the main dough (150g of levain or 15% of what was called for).  Not sure that spelt was the right choice for this bread, it was good but not great.  I'd like to try it again with red wheat.

Here's the loaf, which Forkish doesn't score but rather bakes seam side up for a gnarly, rustic look.

The crumb:

And the bubbly crust that comes from his long room temp ferments:

Pizzas
I also made the levain pizza dough and the high-hydration poolish pizza dough, but my renditions did not turn out as well as the loaves.  They both seemed a bit over-fermented, in that they ended up a little too dense, without enough oven spring, and the flavors were a tad off.  These may be my fault, I suspect both my SD starter and my (commerical yeast) poolish were a little more ripe than was ideal, so I plan to try them again, being more careful to follow the times and temps exactly.  They were both a little harder to shape (elastic) than most of the pizza doughs I mix, which I attribute to the extra acidity from the long ferments.  In the case of the poolish, my pre-ferment only doubled in 12 hours, rather than the triple that is specified, so I let it go to 14 hours (recipe states 12-14 hours) in hopes of getting a bit more rise, which never happened.  This experience has taught me that with Forkish's recipes, it is better to err on the side of underfermenting than the other way around.

All in all, a great book that I've thoroughly enjoyed.


 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

I wanted to make a bread to bring into my new office and my wife had just cooked some bacon for our grilled cheese with bacon sandwiches so naturally I needed to use the left-overs in a bread.  I started out with the Italian Country Bread from Peter Reinhart's BBA book and changed most of the ingredients while adding a few additional as well.

I used my AP starter instead of a biga and I added some maple syrup instead of sugar.  The combination of flours I used along with some cracked wheat and wheat germ turned this into a great rustic bread with a nice chewy crust and open crumb.

My only regret is I didn't double the recipe so I had an extra loaf for myself.  The new office crowd devoured it and commented that I was welcome to bring in additional bread whenever I visited.

Ingredients

453 grams 65% Hydration Starter Refreshed

84 grams First Clear Flour

84 grams Sir Lancelot High Gluten Flour (KAF)

84 grams Durum Flour

28 grams European Style Flour (KAF)

28 grams Potato Flour

24 grams Wheat Germ

16 grams Cracked Wheat

18 grams Olive Oil

18 grams Maple Syrup

226 grams Water at room temperature

11 grams Sea Salt or Table Salt

36 grams Chopped Cooked Bacon (feel free to add more if desired)

Directions

Using your stand mixer or by hand, mix the flours and cracked wheat and wheat germ together with the water and maple syrup for 1 minute just until it starts to come together.  Let the dough autolyse for 20 minutes to an hour.  This will let the flour absorb the water.

Next, add the starter by breaking it up into pieces and mix along with the salt for 3 minutes.  After 3 minutes add the bacon to incorporate it into the dough and mix for 1 more minute.  You should end up with a slightly sticky ball of dough that has started to become smooth.

Remove dough to your lightly floured work surface and need for 1 minute and form a ball.

Leave uncovered for 10 minutes.

Do a stretch and fold and form into a ball again and cover with a clean moist cloth or oiled plastic wrap.

After another 10 minutes do another stretch and fold and put into a lightly oiled bowl that has enough room so the dough can double overnight.

Leave the covered dough in your bowl at room temperature for 2 hours and then put it in your refrigerator overnight or up to 2 days.

When ready to bake the bread, take the bowl out of your refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours shape the dough as desired being careful not to handle the dough too roughly so you don't de-gas it.  Place it in your bowl, banneton or shape into baguettes.

Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours covered with oiled plastic wrap or a wet cloth.

Pre-heat oven with baking stone (I use one on bottom and one on top shelf of my oven), to 500 degrees F.

Slash loaves as desired and place empty pan in bottom shelf of oven.

Pour 1 cup of very hot water into pan and place loaves into oven.

Lower oven to 450 Degrees and bake for 25 - 35 minutes until bread is golden brown and internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.

Let cool on cooling rack for at least 2 hours and enjoy!

I think I have a ghost in my house...or a hungry cat!
Crust and Crumb came out very tasty

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

These rolls are SD / YW, caramelized onion, sun dried tomato, bacon, parmesan cheese Emperor Rolls with Seeds so they are pretty much not Kaiser rolls or semmels any more.  We forgot to put in the basil but left it in the formula.

  

We were reading a post on another unmentioned site on how to make your own sun dried tomatoes.  Tomatoe are 25 cents a pound for Roma ones this week so no time like the present  to dry them.  Sun dried tomatoes have become increasingly more expensive in the store and are very easy to make at home.  I prefer mine roasted slowly with a little salt and Herbs de Provence packed in olive oil so that you get flavored oil too.

  

After finishing the tomato drying project we were looking around for a new way to use them besides in our standard pizza dough.  We also needed some hamburger buns for our monthly hamburger dinner.

 

We usually make these no fancy do shaped buns, with parmesan cheese, basil and apple wood smoked bacon but thought that a few minced sun dried tomatoes wouldn’t hurt them any – unlike what FedEx might do to your next package.

 

This time the apprentice thought we might give Emperor Roll shaping a try for these rolls and stick some; white and black poppy, white and black sesame, basil and nigella seeds on them with egg.  The (2) multi-seeded ones also had kosher salt and chia seeds in the mix.  We recently found some oregano seeds but forgot to use them on purpose - just to be consistent in forgetting stuff we would have liked to put in our recipes .

 

We also wanted to enrich our last dough for rolls with an egg to go along with the butter, NF milk and olive oil.  They ended up being 75% hydration our recent norm for white breads.

 

Kaiser rolls are always plain instead of having seeds on them and oddly they have nothing to do with the Kaiser either.  Odd how things get named isn’t it?  Kaiser rolls originate from Vienna, Austria and were supposedly named after the Emperor Franz Joseph but they are never called Emperor rolls.  So we ended up naming these Franz Joeseph's Emperor Rolls with Seeds.  We can understand how Empress Ying would have every right to be miffed bout this.

  

We shaped the rolls like they do here:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2008/02/28/all-tied-up-shaping-kaiser-rolls/

 

And not the way Norm does here:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=kaiser+roll+shaping&mid=B286163E82FA4DA942DEB286163E82FA4DA942DE&view=detail&FORM=VIRE5

 

Had we known it was Norm at the time, we would have shaped them the authentic way.  Next time for sure.

 

These Emperor Rolls with Seeds came out nicely brown and went soft as summer rolls tend to do in AZ.   Kaiser Rolls should be crusty and hard for NY authentic ones.

 

Method

We built the YW and SD levains separately over a 6 hour build with equal amounts of flour for each and 69% hydration.   The dough flours were autolysed with the milk for 4 hours.   When the levains and the dough flours came together we added the egg, oil softened butter, salt and malts and squeezed the dough through our fingers until incorporated.

After the dough had rested for 15 minutes, we did the first of (4) sets of S&F’s on 30 minute intervals.  The first one was (16) ¼ turns reducing by 4 turns each successive set.  The dough rested in a plastic covered oiled bowl in between sets.  After the last set the dough was retarded for 12 hours in the 38 F fridge in the oiled plastic covered bowl.

After the retard was complete we let the dough sit out for 1 hour on the counter to warm up.  We then weighed out (10) 112 g pieces and shaped them into balls.  After a 10 minute rest under plastic on the counter, we rolled out the balls into 14”ropes.

After another 10 minute rest they were shaped into Kaiser rolls and placed on parchment paper on cookie sheets to final proof covered in a plastic trash can liner for 2 hours.  The tops wee brushed with egg wash and sprinkled with the seeds.

Big Betsy was fired up to 450 F with (2) of Sylvia’s steaming bread pans with wet towels in them.  After 45minutes the rolls were ready to bake with additional steam provided by the ½ C of water we tossed into the bottom of the oven.

After 2 minutes the temperature was turned down to 425 F and then down to 375 F when the steam came out at the 10 minute mark. The rolls were rotated 180 degrees every 5 minutes after the steam was removed to ensure even browning.  They were removed from the oven when they reached 205 F internal temperature about 25 minutes including the steam.  We didn’t brush the tops with milk to keep them soft when they came out of the oven like we normally do since we thought they would go oft enough on their own

Formula

YW / SD Combo Starter

Build 1

%

SD Rye and Desem Starter

20

3.56%

Yeast Water

50

12.44%

AP

150

17.41%

Water

50

12.44%

Total Starter

270

34.83%

 

 

 

Starter

 

 

Hydration

68.75%

 

Levain % of Total

25.94%

 

 

 

 

Dough Flour

 

%

AP

350

87.06%

WWW

52

12.94%

Dough Flour

402

100.00%

 

 

 

Salt

8

1.99%

Non Fat Milk

262

65.17%

Dough Hydration

65.17%

 

 

 

 

Total Flour

562

 

Milk and Water

372

 

T. Dough Hydration

66.19%

 

Whole Grain %

11.39%

 

 

 

 

Hydration w/ Adds

74.53%

 

Total Weight

1,041

 

 

 

 

Add - Ins

 

%

Butter

28

6.97%

Egg

57

14.18%

Red Rye Malt

1

0.25%

White Rye Malt

1

0.25%

Olive Oil

12

2.99%

Total

99

24.63%

 

 

 

3 Thick Apple Wood Smoked Bacon Strips

2 T Chopped basil

 

 

4 T Caramelized onion.

 

 

1/4 C Grated Parmesan

 

 

2 T Sun Dried Tomato

 

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

We have been baking with YW, Combo YW / SD and straight SD lately but have not had the chance to compare identical YW and SD recipes to see how they might compare.  We recently made a Joe Ortiz Desem Starter that we really liked so decided to use WW to build each of the starters to the same 90 grams of levain with the same 80% hydration.

  

We usually want somewhere around 40 % whole grains minimum in our breads with sprouts and seeds, but since these rolls were going to be used for our monthly hamburger dinner we skipped the sprouts and seeds but added fresh chopped basil, caramelized onions, bacon and parmesan cheese instead. 

Yeast Water version is first for pictures.

 

These additions reflected isand66’s (Ian’s) bacon, caramelized onion and cheese bread we rank in our top 5 and his roll bake this week along with breadsong’s roll bake this week that had basil and parmesan cheese in it.  We thought combining the 2 would make for a very nice bun for our grilled poblano chili, caramelized onion and mushroom, cheese burger we were planning for dinner.

 

Since it is summer, we planned on bailing the rolls in the mini oven using (2) of Sylvia’s steaming cups designed for it.   We are amazed the varieties of well baked bread that come out of that little oven.

 

This was no exception.  Both rolls were soft and moist inside with the YW being more so but the SD was more open.  The crusts came out nice and crusty but were immediately toned down to nice and soft by brushing milk on them immediately – no one wants a hard hamburger bun. The crust on the SD was darker and more blistered and the spring was greater.  The SD rolls were baked last when the oven temperature and steam were working better.

Now for the Desem SD pictures

 

The YW rolls were slightly under baked and the SD ones were slightly over baked even though both were baked the same way and for the same time and temperature exactly.  Since only the levain was retarded, the SD tang was muted for the SD rolls and there was no SD tang in the YW as expected.

We liked both of these rolls equally well and have now found our new go to hamburger bun and possible bruschetta  bread.  We will add 10g each of potato flakes and ground oats with a little garlic and 12g of water to the recipe next time to make it even better.  We just forgot them this time by mistake.

 

Method

The levains were built over (2) 3 hr and (1) 2 hr build before being refrigerated overnight.  Home ground whole wheat was used for the levains in keeping with the normal Desem starter feed.  We also ground the soft white whole wheat berries.

 

Each  dough was made by hand mixing the levain and non fat milk together first to break up and liquefy the levain, then the flours, butter and oil were added.  We added the fat to give the rolls an even more tender and moist crumb.  The dough was then hand kneaded for 4 minutes and allowed to rest for 15 minutes in an oiled, plastic covered bowl.

YW is on the right in side shot and on the left in the crumb shot.  The spirng better for the SD - quite unexpected.

 

(4) sets of S & F’s were done on 15 minute intervals with the herb, onion, bacon and parmesan added in on the third set.  The dough was then allowed to ferment and develop for 90 minutes.

Each batch made (6) 111 g rolls.  After dividing, the rolls were S&F’ed to shape and then rolled under the palms of the hand until the skin was tight and the fold seamed shut.  The rolls were then proofed for 2 hours on parchment in a plastic bag.

YW on the left, SD on the right.

 

The oven was preheated to 500 F and Sylvia’s (2) Pyrex cups, half full of water with a wash cloth in them were heated until boiling in the microwave.   The rolls with parchment were placed on the top part only of the mini’s broiler pan with the steaming cups and loaded in the lower rack for 10 minutes of steaming.  After 2 minutes the temperature was turned down to 425 F.

Who wants a plain cheeseburger?

 

When the steam came out at the 10 minute mark, the baking rack was moved to the upper level and the temperature turned down to 375 F convection this time.  In 5 minutes the rack was rotated 180 degrees and moved to the lower level for 5 more minutes of baking. 

When you can have one of these.  Both have grilled poblano peppers, Alpine Lace, Emmenthaler Swiss and brie cheese, caramelized onion and mushrooms.  One has lettuce and tomato and one does not.  Either makes any architect a proud builder :-) Even Lindy's on 4th in Tucson would have a hard time beating these burgers and no way they can beat the buns!

 

At 20 minutes the rolls were deemed done and removed to wire cooling racks where they were immediately brushed with milk to soften the crust for hamburger buns.

Brownman's Banana Bread made as a sheet cake For desert.

Formula follows the pictures.

YW StarterBuild 1Build 2 Build 3Total%
Yeast Water25200452.86%
WW152194515.00%
Total Starter404199030.00%

Or the Desem starter below

Desem SD, Caramelized Onion, Basil, Bacon,  Parmesan Rolls     
      
Desem StarterBuild 1Build 2 Build 3Total%
SD Desem Starter1000102.86%
Rye00000.00%
AP00000.00%
WW152194515.00%
Water152003511.67%
Total Starter404199030.00%
      
Starter     
Hydration80.00%    
Levain % of Total14.49%    
      
Dough Flour %   
Semolina5016.67%   
Bread Flour7525.00%   
Soft White Whole Wheat5016.67%   
AP7525.00%   
Durum Atta5016.67%   
Dough Flour300100.00%   
      
Salt62.00%   
Non Fat Milk19565.00%   
Dough Hydration65.00%    
      
Total Flour350    
Milk and Water235    
T. Dough Hydration67.14%    
Whole Grain %42.86%    
      
Hydration w/ Adds68.29%    
Total Weight621    
      
Add - Ins %   
Butter206.67%   
Olive Oil 103.33%   
Total30

10.00

   
 Add ins are split between  12 rolls     
3 Bacon strips     
4 T Chopped basil     
6 T Caramelized onion.     
1/4 C Grated Parmesan    

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Franko had me drooling with his post and kind sharing of his pate recipe.  No question about it I love pate - all kinds.  Now that the larder is full of some fine bread to spread some kind of pate on  - it was time to make some.  The French are masters of making what they have on hand into some kind of Pate Maison - and it tasting great - especially on bread or toast.

 

Mine started with some shredded bacon crisped up in a frying pan.  The bacon was removed and half the bacon fat removed with it.  A half an onion was cramelized in the bacon fat, 3 sliced mushrooms added 3/4 th of the way to caramelization.  At the end a minced garlic clove was added to the caramelized veg and 3 leaves of shredded Swiss chard tossed in to wilt.  Carrot battons were tossed in as well to soften them a bit.

6 ozs of minced beef and pork were further ground in the Cuisinart mini food processor.  6 oz of chicken liver were then processed until it was almost a liquid.  The liver, beef and pork were then mixed together into a paste with 1 T of cognac.  A hard boiled egg was quartered and 4 oz of ham was cut into batons.

 

The meat was divided into fourths with 1/4 going in the bottom of the ramekin, a layer of caramelized veggies and 2 quarters of the HB egg went in next.  A whole raw chicken liver was placed in the middle and a layer of ham on top.  Then the other quarter of the meat was placed on top to encapsulate the fillings.  The two pate ramekins were cooked in a water bath at 325 F For hour until  done.  The pate was then cooled with weights on top and pouring out the fat as it accumulated.  Eventually it was moved to the fridge to cool completely and compress some more.

This pate is delicious and fantastic with any home made bread that you might want to toast or possibly a pate lunch. That is rye bread behind the pate that looks like pate.

How did that lemon cheesecake get in there? The was souffle type cooked in a water bath before it cooled and deflated a little.

 

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Ian is well known for his interesting and delicious bread combinations.   I had taken his BPOC SD and made it into an even stranger bread by replacing his Semolina with 5% each; WW, Whole Rye and Whole Spelt.  For his bacon, cheese onion and potato I used; home made apple smoked pork jowl, ancient white vapor cheddar, caramelized onions and potato flakes.  The bread came out beautiful inside and out and was just plain delicious.  Definitely one of the 10 breads in my top 5 (actually it is one of the top 3).

I have been eating up all of the half a loaf, boule and batards that I froze after each bake over the last 3 months to see which ones I liked most and how best to rate and present them.  Being a sandwich king, I thought each might be presented as a nice lunch.  I was going to wait till I had finished them all (and have nearly done so), photo with the new old Nikon camera to do them justice this time, but, I had to break this one out separately since it is by far, far and away the best sandwich and lunch I have had these past few weeks.

Since this bread only deserves the best, the sandwich was a Dabrownman Super Special - Curried Grilled Chicken with Mango Chutney.  The sides were cold Rosemary, Pecorino, Parmesan,White Polenta, home grown Field Greens, Meculin and Lettuce Salad, home made Kosher Dill, Bread and Butter with Serrano Pepper pickles and a home grown navel orange.  The curry, chutney and polenta recipes follow the pix's as a bonus for all lunch lovers on TFL.

The first pix is a mis en place recipe for the Grilled Chicken Curry.  It has about 2 T each starting from the far right diced small; celery, green onion, red onion, grilled Italian squash and eggplant, carrot, red pepper, poblano pepper,  each orange mango chutney and mayo,  1/2 tsp Madras Curry powder, 1/2 grilled chicken breast,  1 T each; dried apricot, cranberry and raisin (reconstituted with hot water.) Mix it all up and you are finally done with this fine sandwich's filling.

Rosemary White Polenta with Parmesan and Pecorino

1/4 C medium grain white corn meal

1/4 C white corn flour (ground from WCM above)

1 C milk - any kind

1 C chicken stock - I use home made

1 T butter

1 T fresh rosemary chopped fine

1/2 C Pecorino and Parmesan grated cheese blend

pepper

Bring milk and stock to a simmer and slowly add the corn meal and corn flour while whisking constantly.  When the mixture thickens to a thick porridge, stir in butter, rosemary.  Turn off the heat and add the cheese.  Pepper to taste.  Serve warm for dinner but it is much better the next day cold for lunch.

Orange Mango Chutney

 In large fry pan sauté:

 1 T oil

½ T fresh ginger and 2 cloves minced garlic

 Sauté until fragrant about 1 min and add:

1 C brown, white or red onion, Sauté until soft about 3-5 min Add:

 1 C red bell pepper

1 T minced hot chili (jalapeno, Serrano, Thai)

1 ½ tsp Madras curry powder, curry powder or hot curry powder

½ tsp Gharam Masala

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp each cayenne powder and red pepper flakes

1/8 tsp each; allspice, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon

 Sauté for 1 minute until spices are fragrant then add:

 2 C diced mangos

½ C apple cider vinegar

½ C brown sugar

Zest of 1 orange - Supreme the orange and add the segments with the juice of membrane

1 diced pealed and cored small apple (can use pineapple and juice instead)

¼ C raisins

½ cups Macadamia nuts (optional)

 Simmer until the chutney thickens to jam about 20-30 min.  Place hot in sterilized jar and put into refrigerator when cooled.  It also freezes well in small portions which is what I do.

 You can chutney just about anything but you may want to use lemon zest, segments and juice depending on your choice of fruit or vegetable being made into chutney.

 

oceanicthai's picture
oceanicthai

Dill, bacon, olive oil, roasted garlic sourdough bread.

         

The fam's favorite bread so far.  All gone already.

Stephanie Brim's picture
Stephanie Brim

I have a problem. Admitting that you have a problem is the first step to recovery, right?

So here I am, 7 weeks after giving birth to a wonderful baby boy...and I have 12 loaves of bread in various stages of becoming tasty, crusty goodness.

I am not a professional. I do not have one of those nice ovens that will fit all this bread. I have no couche for the insanely wet rosemary potato bread other than the piece of thin natural linen that I picked up at the fabric store for half off. I have to bake loaves 3 at a time, part of the time on a half sheet pan, so that they all get done at the right times.

The smell wafting through my house, though...heaven. Really. The smell of bread baking makes up for the hours of hard work I've put in over the last 24 hours.

Really, the hardest part was making the dough last night. My husband works second shift, meaning he's gone from about 2:30 until about midnight, so during the time I was mixing up doughs I had both kids to take care of, some laundry to do, dishes to keep up with, and dinner to make for Rinoa and I. Not only did I get everything done, but I figured I'd have time to do not only the baked potato and rosemary potato breads that I planned to take to Christmas as gifts, but also a loaf or two of real gingerbread to have with lightly sweetened whipped cream.

I think I've renewed my confidence in my ability to successfully multitask. I quit baking while I was pregnant because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to spend enough time with my daughter after having the new baby and that she'd be forever scarred by my inability to play with her constantly. I can't believe I thought that now, but pregnancy does strange things to you. I now know that I can do my baking, which is something I do for myself as much as to provide my family with the best food possible, and still not neglect my family.

I have to admit that this crazy baking spree was most likely not the best way to reacquiant myself with my rational mind.

I'll share pictures when I'm done. Just thought I'd share my brain today. :)

LeadDog's picture

Jalapeno, Bacon, and Cheese

September 20, 2009 - 8:59pm -- LeadDog

We used to buy a sourdough bread that had Jalapeno and Cheese in it that we really liked. When I saw in bread books formulas for Bacon and Cheese I thought why not Jalaneno, Bacon , and Cheese? I was right on track with that question as the bread really does taste great. Here is a picture of the finished bread.

And a picture of the crumb.

gothicgirl's picture
gothicgirl

Posted on www.evilshenanaigans.com  4/8/2009

I am a bacon devotee.  I'm not sure if you have noticed, but I love the stuff!  That's why when I was challenged to create a sweet and savoury bacon muffin I jumped at the challenge!

Maple and Bacon Muffins 

But, this is a tale of sadness, regret, but eventual triumph! 

Two months ago, on a cold January evening, I was contemplating new ways to use bacon in my baking when my husband asked, "Can you make a bacon cupcake?"  A cupcake?  No, not that, never that.  However, a muffin I could do!  So, off to research.  I formulated a recipe with a brown sugar crumble and gave it a whirl.

Maple and Bacon Muffins 

They tasted great, but looked about as pretty as homemade soap.  Not a shining moment for me, but I moved on.  Next I tried no crumble and more maple.  They were far too sweet and had the texture of sticky cornbread.  BLEH!   Long story short (too late, right?), after a few more failures I struck the right balance of salty and sweet in a tender, bulging muffins!  It is this that I present to you, the perfect brunch bread. .. Maple and Bacon Muffins!   

Maple and Bacon Muffins   Yield 1 dozen

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup real maple syrup

Heat the oven to 400 F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners, or grease and flour the pan well.

Dry Ingredients 

Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt well.  Mix in the crumbled bacon.

Wet Ingredients 

In a separate bowl mix the milk, eggs, oil, and maple syrup.

Complete Batter 

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it.  Fold gently until the dry ingredients are wet.  It will be lumpy.

Scoop into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes.

 Maple and Bacon Muffins - Cooling

Serve warm.

Maple and Bacon Muffins

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