It started off a bright, sunny day, but as it nears the Equinox, the temperature is dropping. Pretty soon it’s going to be long pants and socks weather. I am so not looking forward to layers of clothes.

But there’s still sunshine and there’s still hot peppers in the garden. Time to create…

This started off as just a loaf of bread, but as I was starting to mix the ingredients, I thought a pepper-bread would be good. The bread ingredients pretty much remained the same – although I added garlic powder – and after the first rise, I patted, filled, rolled, and placed in the cold oven just as it it had been a loaf of the French-Style Bread I set out to originally make.

Pepper Bread

(adapted from James Beard)

Ingredients

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 cup warm water (about 105° )
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 3 cups flour
• 12 hot peppers, seeded, fried, and cooled
• 1/2 cup cheese shavings
• 3 tbsp cornmeal

Directions

Combine the yeast with sugar and warm water in a large bowl and allow to proof. Mix the salt and garlic powder with the flour and add to the yeast mixture, a cup at a time, until you have a stiff dough. Remove to a lightly floured board and knead until no longer sticky, about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary. Place in a buttered bowl and turn to coat the surface with butter. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1½ to 2 hours.

Punch down the dough. Turn out on a floured board and pat and shape into a rectangle. Liberally place the cooled hot peppers on the dough and then shave cheese on top using a vegetable peeler.

Roll the rectangle up tightly. Place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal. Place in a cold oven, set the temperature at 400° and bake 30 or so minutes or until well browned and hollow sounding when the top is rapped.

It’s crunchy and chewy and definitely has a kick. Perfect for soup or stew or just munching…