Mountain Hot Dishes

 This is what I cook… for the holidays this year to do with our ham. My husband and I had a savory bread pudding years ago in a restaurant as a side dish that he loved. I prefer a sweet bread pudding but this is really good. It’s a perfect Thanksgiving or Christmas side dish!  4 cups brioche bread cubes (I used 1 bag of brioche buns cubed) 1 large package of sliced portobello mushrooms or white mushrooms, sautéed with butter & mined garlic until soft 2 cups shredded Gruyère cheese + more for topping 1/4 cup chopped fresh sage 1 1/2 cups heavy cream 6 eggs 1/4 tsp each Salt & pepper Mix bread, mushrooms, cheese & sage together in a large bowl. Grease a 9x13 baking dish with butter and dump bread mixture into it and smooth out. Whisk heavy cream & eggs together with salt & pepper. Pour egg/cream mixture over bread mixture. Top with a bit more cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes until set. Serve warm. 

This is what I cook… when I want to bake bread. Living at 9100 ft above sea level, I was always nervous about baking bread. This bread turns out every time.  Ingredients:  3 cups all purpose flour 2 tsp salt 1 pkg yeast 1 tsp sugar 1 1/4 cups warm water Combine flour and salt in mixer. In separate bowl, combine yeast, sugar & water. Pour mixture into flour mixture and mix until forms a ball. Using dough hook, knead dough for 15 minutes. Place in greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise for 45 minutes. Once risen to 1.5 its size, stretch dough and make round bread shape.  Place in a lightly greased Dutch oven with cover or bread pan if you don’t have a Dutch oven, bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes.