Jalapeño-Cheddar Sourdough Bread—Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café

I think the most important skill I developed last year was the ability to make good sourdough bread.  I will be forever grateful to Abby for sharing the secrets—and her starter!—with my daughter and I and some of her friends last October.  I’ve been baking this bread at least twice a week since then.  And what about the whole wheat sandwich bread that I made weekly for the past 15 years?  I haven’t made a single loaf since.  Not that it was bad bread—if I made it for 15 years, it’s really good.  But this sourdough is so much better. 

I love the sour flavor.  But it’s not just that.  Shortly after I posted the recipe for Abby’s sourdough bread, I also blogged on the health benefits of sourdough—reducing the after-meal spike in blood sugars for diabetics and improving digestion and general nutrient availability.  I was attracted by the idea of reducing the blood sugar spike now that I’m a type-2 diabetic.  And I thought my diet was fairly healthy, so I wasn’t persuaded that sourdough making nutrients more available to my body would have that much of an effect. 

However, life got busy over Christmas vacation, what with the girls coming home from school and Ellie getting engaged, in addition to the regular holiday bustle.  I quit filling my weekly pill organizer with the supplements I (used to) take.  I kept putting it off, figuring I’d get around to it in another day or two, or when symptoms started returning.  I took cayenne pepper capsules for about 12 years for stomach issues.  If I ran out of those (upstairs; I still had plenty downstairs, so that I wasn’t really out, just too lazy to go down and get them), my stomach would start hurting within a couple of days.  I also took hawthorn capsules to control heart palpitations.  If I fail to take hawthorn, the palpitations return within a couple of weeks, and then it takes a week or so of taking the capsules regularly again before the palpitations go away.

I haven’t taken either cayenne or hawthorn since before Christmas.  My stomach and heart issues haven’t returned.  Will that be the case forever?  I don’t know.  Do I believe that sourdough is the reason?  Yes, I’m inclined to believe that.  Am I grateful to be able to extend my supply of those supplements or perhaps avoid using them altogether?  Most definitely.

Anyway, one of the flavors of sourdough that Abby’s family bakery sells, and which Abby shared with us when she taught our class, is jalapeño-cheddar.  And it is phenomenal.  So I decided I had to make my own, because we all want a special treat at times. 

To the regular sourdough bread recipe, right after you’ve mixed the regular bread ingredients together, but before adding the salt, mix in 4 jalapeños, sliced, and one pound of cheddar cheese cubes.  Then follow the original recipe for folding, shaping, and baking. 

This bread is phenomenal all by itself, toasted and spread with a little butter.  However, if you’re ready for something truly special, try this grilled cheese sandwich.  The original recipe also comes from Abigail’s Oven.

Jalapeño Cheddar, Bacon, and Pepper Jack Grilled Cheese Sandwich

2 slices jalapeño cheddar sourdough bread

2 slices pepper jack cheese

Butter

½ tart apple, thinly sliced

Cooked bacon, 3 strips

1-2 tablespoons cream cheese

Pepper jelly

Preheat a skillet to medium. 

Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread.  Spread cream cheese on the inside of one slice and top with bacon.  Lay cheese on top of the bacon.  Top with 3-5 apple slices.  Place this half of the sandwich on the skillet and reduce heat to medium-low.

Spread pepper jelly on the other slice and put it on top of the other half of the sandwich already cooking, with the pepper jelly next to the apple slices.  Toast until golden brown on the bottom and then flip the grill the other side. 

Family reviews:  All of my natural-born children and I love this bread and the sandwich made with it.  Aaron and my children’s spouses can’t tolerate the heat of the jalapeños, so their sandwiches have to be made with plain sourdough bread.  This sandwich is basically to die for.  I plan to freeze-dry several pounds of pepper jack cheese just so we can have this sandwich in the future.

Links to related posts:

Abby’s Sourdough Bread—Three Perfect Ingredients  

Pepper Jelly  

The Health Benefits of Sourdough  

Medicinal Uses of Cayenne 

Medicinal Uses of Hawthorn 

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread  

Cream Cheese Perfection—Entirely from Food Storage!  

References:

https://abigailsoven.com/blogs/abigails-oven/jalapeno-cheddar-bacon-and-pepperjack-grilled-cheese-sandwich?_pos=1&_sid=912ed12a3&_ss=r