In the context of trying not to take great things for granted, I wanted to write about the Parmesan Pepper bread from the Bakehouse. It’s so consistently good and so widely loved that I would be remiss not to spread the good word now and again. Maybe we’ll make this final week of July into an annual celebration of this lovely loaf! It makes sense to honor it now—July 27 will mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano, the governing body that assures us all that a high set of “minimum” quality standards will be met!
One of the longtime Bakehouse classics, the Parmesan Pepper bread continues to be an exceptionally awesome offering! We started making it all the way back in the winter of 1993 and it’s had a loyal following from the get-go. Like so many of our breads, it’s naturally leavened—no commercial yeast is used—which means the dough gets about 18 hours or so of slow gentle rise time. The bread is made with nothing but organic wheat flour, filtered water, sea salt, chunks of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and a good bit of world-class cracked black peppercorns to boot! The deep flavor of the bread, the creaminess of the cheese, and the punch of the peppercorns make a magical combination.
The pepper at the Bakehouse is one of the keys to the bread’s excellence. We use the 5-Star Black Pepper Blend we get from our friends at Épices de Cru in Montreal. It gets its name from a quintet of super high-quality peppercorns from India that make up the blend. You can read the whole list here—like a great jazz band, each is playing in their distinctive style, bringing its personality to the playing, but still coming together beautifully as a combo.
What do you do with Parmesan Pepper bread? Tear off a chunk and eat it as it is. Toast it and drizzle on some great olive oil. Lay a bit of Prosciutto di Parma between two slices of it and grill it up for lunch! Warm the whole thing in the oven, and go wild. In the spirit of serving chunks of great Parmigiano Reggiano with honey, it’s great toasted, drizzled with olive oil (on the delicate side, like maybe ROI from Liguria), and then honey—I love the chestnut honey we have from Tuscany at the Deli right now. It’s particularly magical, too, if you use fig jam in place of the honey. It also makes amazing avocado toast!
