How to Make Bacon Bread

We learn how to make bacon bread by teaming up with Homemade, a marketplace for home cooked food

[Sponsored Content]

RECIPE:

PAIN AU BACON WITH BLACK PEPPER.

Ingredients:

1lb of fresh smoked bacon.

250 grams of leaven

900 grams of white bread flour

100 grams of whole wheat flour

16 grams of sea salt

1 tablespoon of freshly cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons of reserved bacon drippings

750 grams of H20 @90f

The method:

The night before you plan on making you bread, prepare you leaven.

55 grams of ripe starter

100 grams of white bread flour

100 grams of whole wheat flour

200 grams of H20@ 80f

Mix all the ingredients together, cover with plastic wrap and leave out on you counter for approximately 12 hours. The following morning mix your flour and water for the autolyse. In a large bowl mix all of the flours with the water by hand until it’s all incorporated into the water. Cover with a kitchen towel and leave for 1 hour. While your dough is in autolyse, cook your 1lb of bacon until it is crispy, drain on some paper towels to cool. Once cooled chop into small pieces. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat. Once the dough has finished it’s 1 hour autolyse sprinkle all of the salt over the dough. Then spread 250 grams of the leaven over on top of the dough. Gently incorporate the salt and leaven into the dough mixture by hand using the ‘pincer ‘ method. Once the leaven and salt are incorporated cover the dough and leave for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes complete your first set of stretch and folds. Wet you hand, and place it under the dough and gently lift, pull and fold onto the top of the dough. Do this about 4-8 times. Cover and let stand for 30 minutes. Before you do the 2nd set of folds, sprinkle all of the cooked bacon and drippings onto the dough, then gently fold the bacon into the dough by using the ‘pincer method.’ Cover and leave for 30 minutes until you do a 3rd series of stretch and folds. Do 2-3 more sets of folds every 30 minutes, or until the dough feels tense but puffy.

Cover and leave the dough for another 2 -3 hours, or until it’s almost doubled in size. A good sign that the dough has completed it’s fermentation is the top is now domed and has several air bubbles poking out of the top. If you are using a clear plastic tub you should be able to see a lot of tiny bubbles inside the dough.

Folding and shaping:

Once the dough has completed it’s bulk fermentation lightly flour you work surface and with a plastic scraper remove the dough from the tub. Next, divide the dough into two pieces if you are baking boules. Very gently, loosely shape the dough into rounds and sprinkle with flour. Cover with a tea towel and leave 30 minutes for it’s bench rest.

Prepare your basket or banneton by flouring lightly. Then using you bench scraper gently lift and turn over, using the following technique as closely as possible gently shape you dough and place into the floured banneton. Place the banetton’s inside a plastic bag and place into the refrigerator overnight or about 12-24 hours.

The following morning pre-heat you oven and Dutch ovens @500f for 60 minutes. Carefully remove the Dutch oven from the stove, turn out the dough from the banter and slash with a razor or scissors, and place inside the Dutch oven.

Bake covered at 500F for 20 minutes, then turn down the heat to 450f for another 10 minutes. The uncover the Dutch oven and bake from 20-30 minutes longer continuing to check on the loaf, until it’s a dark brown. Remove and let cool for at least an hour.