So here it is, the bread I promised last week. It’s a bit of an odd bread, this. In fact, it might not be much of
a bread at all. Maybe it should be called a loaf. It’s a bit undecided, even in its disposition – not wholely sweet, nor stubbornly savoury.
But in that I-don’t-really-know-who-I-am demeanour, the unsureness, lies its real charm. I am still talking about the bread.
This bread is a quirky one.
I like things quirky.
Quirks make me feel comfortable. Like a patchwork blanket where the squares don’t perfectly meet. Quirky blankets, quirky bread, quirky people. They are who you put your feet up with. Even if your sock has a hole. Hell, sometimes it’s all about the hole.
I can make my daughter happy just by cutting a hole in a piece of paper, and having her look through it. Suddenly, the world looks a little bit quirky, a little less regular. And it makes her giggle and giggle.
And, I am still talking about the bread. The loaf. The loafy bread. Oh, call it what you will, but I promise it will make you put your feet up like quirky things do. And it’ll surprise your mouth with bits of sweet pear and salty cheese and crunchy seeds.
It’s odd in such a good way. It’s the bread that thought outside the bread box. Square loaf in a round hole.
Yeah, I know it’s not really square.
Cheesy pear and pumpkin seed bread
This bread is gloriously good straight out of the oven, when the pieces of pears are folded up in gooey, melted cheese, and the pumpkin seeds are all toasty and crunchy. I chose cheddar because I wanted a no-frills, robust cheese cosying up to the sweet pear. But you can posh-up the bread by replacing the cheddar with gorgonzola, or any other blue-veined cheese. That works wonderfully too.
The other thing we discovered with this bread is that it tastes great a day later, when toasted in a flat pan till lightly browned on both sides. Buttered, or not.
Ingredients
In a separate bowl mix the eggs, olive oil and melted butter. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Add a bit of cold milk if the mixture feels too tight.
Grease your bread tin. Spoon the mixture into the tin. Sprinkle the remaining pumpkin seeds on top.