Louisiana Pecan Bacon Bread

Summer project planning, pit maintenance, smoked chicken. The summer heat is building the way a roux builds: slowly at first, then all at once, and when it hits, the only response is to keep stirring. Stirring the roux. Stirring the life. Stirring the pot of a family that is four at the table now (sometimes five when Luc comes home, sometimes three when Colette is at a friend\'s), and the stirring adjusts, and the adjustment is the skill, and the skill is: show up with the spoon regardless of how many bowls need filling.

The food this week was good. The company was better. The week was a week — not a milestone, not a crisis, just seven days of waking up and cooking and working and sleeping (six hours most nights now, bless Dr. Tran and the therapy that turned the water off) and being alive in Louisiana in the part of the year where the mosquitoes are back and the AC is straining and the only thing keeping the heat at bay is the cold beer and the knowledge that crawfish season is winding down and deer season is five months away and the calendar is a circle and the circle is the roux and the roux is everything.

With crawfish season winding down and the circle of the calendar doing what it does, I wanted something that tasted like here — like Louisiana in the heat, like a table that adjusts to three or four or five without making a fuss about it. This bread is that. You pull it out of the oven and it doesn’t ask how many are sitting down; it just fills the kitchen with the smell of bacon and toasted pecans and does its job, which is the same job I’m trying to do: show up, feed people, keep stirring.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 10 slices

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
6 strips bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
3/4 cup pecans, roughly chopped and toasted
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 green onions, thinly sliced

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and set aside.
Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cayenne until evenly combined.
Combine wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, beaten eggs, and melted butter until smooth.
Fold together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined — do not overmix. A few lumps are fine.
Add the good stuff. Fold in the crumbled bacon, toasted pecans, shredded cheddar, and green onions until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
Bake. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 40–45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the top is deep golden brown.
Cool and slice. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Slice and serve warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Louisiana Pecan Bacon Bread — The Loaf That Holds the Table Together