Pan del Diablo or Lucifer's Loaf

My friends in the Bay area have a Mexican restaurant where they treat me very well. The last time I visited, they had Carolina reaper peppers and insisted that I sample some while downing my obligatory margaritas. A tiny nibble of those little red blobs of pain is enough to let you know it's serious. This was not the first time they found entertainment in watching me sample their offerings. Mi amigos at Roberto's wanted me to make a bread out of them. Of course they did.

I'm no good at posting pics, but the basics are covered here. Ingredients, stretch and fold... The garden up the street at my friend's place has a patch of scary peppers that I was instructed to raid for bread add-ins. He and his uncle grow the devilish things, and I don't know what the yellow ones are. The reds are the Carolinas. Most of the time, I only visit the garden for bundles of fresh rosemary from two slightly different bushes.

The bread was a basic sourdough, moderate hydration (sorry, but I don't measure precisely), mostly white flour with a few tablespoons of corn flour (a nod to their Mexican tastes), maybe a tablespoon of barley flour, a good bit of cilantro, and about 4 of the evil peppers. It seemed to get a little wetter as I stretched and folded with wet hands and the pepper oils permeated the dough; thus the lack of oven spring. I wanted a wet, rustic bread since it wasn't to be served until the next night when my friend worked at the restaurant and his storage methods were unknown. It fermented overnight in the banneton/fridgerated.

We tried King Arthur flour recently. I love the difference in texture, but my wife says go back to Gold Medal. There's a compromise somewhere in there that I'll figure out without anyone even knowing. ;)

The star of this bread was the peppers, and the heat from slicing them made me sweat and feel like manopause or something. Even using a knife and fork, it was intense. I never even touched 'em until the minimal kneading and stretch and folds. The dough itself quickly acquired the heat, and a small sample was enough for me. I never even tasted this bread.

The fumes when baking in the dutch oven closed at 450F for 20 mins/open at 350F for 20 mins weren't as bad as I imagined. As usual, I sprayed the bottom of the pan with a tiny bit of avocado oil and sprinkled a pinch of kosher salt. Love that salty bottom.

With the cilantro and the grace of any freshly baked bread, it smelled really good, redolent of red pepper and heat. But giving this one away was easy. My buddy and his colleagues at the restaurant loved it. I hear about 15 people had samples and had a blast(off), so I feel like the most localized spicy bread celebrity on the peninsula. He wouldn't let his wife try it, which tells me that baking at high heat didn't diminish the heat of the peppers.

Next time, I'll try a slice. Maybe