Kitchen Adventures: Hoppin' Jalapeno Pull-Apart Bread

I've done it, guys.

I've found the perfect hostess gift, the best bread for dinner parties, the "I'll bring this to Christmas at Grandma's" recipe.  

Hold on to your pants, 'cause it's a kicker! 

I've wanted to make a pull-apart bread since I-can't-remember ago.  Yesterday, I made tacos with homemade tortillas and I wanted to find a great appetizer for that meal.  And then the lightbulb went on - make the pull-apart bread and make it pretty!  

I found this recipe on the most adorable little blog - Developing a Pattern.  Yes, the recipe is two years old (which makes me feel silly for waiting so long to find and make it! 

This bread is soooooo yummy - cheesy, spicy, and melt-in-your-mouth gooey.  We tore off pieces by hand and dipped them in salsa - queso would do nicely, too.  Since it's made in a bundt pan, I used a ramekin to hold the salsa and placed it in the middle of the bread.  It looked so legit, guys.  Like I work for Food Network or something.

Food Network Realness

Here's the recipe:  

Bread:

4 cups white bread flour 

1 package active dry yeast (2.25 tsp)

2 heaping tsp salt

5 Tbsp EVOO (extra virgin olive oil, I won't spell that out every time, so....that's the abbreviation)

1.5 cups water

Spice Mix:

1/2 stick butter, melted

1/2 cup EVOO

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1.5 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne 

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper 

Layers:

3 Tbsp diced jalapeno pepper

3/4 cup pepperjack cheese, shredded/grated

3/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded/grated

Before you begin, make sure you have warm kitchen.  If it's chilly, just preheat the oven to 475 F.  I know, it's a loooong time to preheat an oven through risings, but you need a warm kitchen for the yeast to be happy.  

***Note:  I always use gloves when handling hot peppers.  This isn't because of some horrific incident involving capsaicin, but because I get really tingly fingers for like, two days after contact with pepper oils.  Just...be careful, mmk?  Don't go touching just anything - try to avoid contamination with the oils. 

Combine the dry bread ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Using your bread hook, turn the mixer to its lowest speed setting.  Slowly add oil and water.  Continue to mix at lowest speed for about two minutes, or until dough forms a ball/binds together.  Turn the speed up one notch and mix for six minutes, or until dough becomes firm and just barely sticky to the touch.  

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead gently for about two minutes.  Form dough into a ball, place into an oiled bowl, and cover loosely with plastic wrap and a towel.  Let rise for one hour.  

While the dough is rising, you can prep the spice mix and the layering bits.  Just mix together all the spices with the oil and butter.  If you'd like, you can separate the cheese and jalapenos into thirds.  

Once the dough has risen, lightly punch it down (my favorite part!) into the bowl, and begin to pinch off small pieces.  I'd say about a tablespoon-ish size, but I made some larger than that to speed up the process.  Dunk the bread bites in the spice mix, and toss them into a bundt pan - no need to grease the pan.  Once you have a bottom layer down (about 1/3 of the dough), add 1/3 of the cheeses and jalapenos in a layer.  Add a second layer of dough, and then the cheeses and pepper, and repeat one more time.  The top layer should be cheese and peppers, and it will make the most *delicious* crust.  

Cover the pan and let rise for 45 minutes to one hour.  Place in the oven, and reduce the heat to 425 F.  Bake for 16-20 minutes, until bread is golden brown and cheese is gooey-crispy-awesome.  

Let the bread cool for 30 minutes before turning out onto a plate.  Serve with salsa or queso.  

Irresistible

What might you add to the layers in the bread?  Maybe some onions and other peppers?  Make it your own! 

Nom nom for now,

Amanda