Those of you who have followed me for a while will know that I am completely out of sync with my posting schedule on this blog. However, I do have 60,000 words on my sequel to A Regrettable Proposal done, so I’m starting to feel like the light at the end of the tunnel is not far for this Regency novel. And that means I have time to post about this amazingly delicious “cake”. Well, cake or bread… it’s a savory bread with ham and cheese that has a secret weapon to add flavour : Dijon mustard.
I know. What a shocker, right? I basically have a vat of Dijon mustard in our fridge at all times. There’s my Dijon mustard tarte, Dijon mustard salad dressing, creamy tarragon chicken, which, besides cream, tarragon, and chicken features – you guessed it – Dijon mustard! In fact, many of the savory recipes that appear on my recipe page feature a big dollop of the spicy condiment.
I wanted to make – and share – this recipe now, both because it’s perfect picnic weather and this is a perfect picnic dish, and also because I had borrowed the bread mold from the friend who gave me the recipe and I needed to give the pan back to her. I made it two times in a week – that’s how good it was. A complete success according to the tasters.
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C or 350°C, and take 150 grams of softened butter. That’s 5.5 ounces. I didn’t mix mine ahead of time before adding the other ingredients and it left little pockets of butter, which was quite good. But I think you can mix yours first (which is what I did the first time I made the bread).
After you mix the butter, you’ll want 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley (2 teaspoons of dried, but that’s not as good). 60 gram of Dijon mustard, which is a scant 1/4 cup. I love Maille brand. 6 eggs, a teaspoon sea salt and a splash of pepper. 140 grams of flour, which is 1 cup and 2 tablespoons. 2.5 teaspoons of baking powder – everything we use is gluten-free (baking powder and flour). Make sure that’s all mixed before adding 140 grams of gruyère, or if you can get it – conté. (2 cups loose) plus 270 grams of cubed ham (2 cups packed). And that’s it!
Put it into a really cool mold, or just a normal bread pan.
Bake it in this pan for about 35 minutes, but check it to make sure it’s cooking properly. I ended up adding 5 minutes covered with aluminum foil. If you use a bread pan, you can follow the recipe for my bacon bread, and bake for 40 minutes at 325°F. Although… upon further thinking, I have a doubt about that. This recipe has more ingredients and I think you should count on a longer bake time of 50 minutes if you’re using a traditional bread pan.
Here ’tis!
No, no wait. Here ’tis.
The main feedback I got was that it is so savory, and also really light. For the airy consistency, I’m guessing it’s the eggs and the extra baking powder. And for its taste? I really think it’s that huge amount of Dijon mustard that does the trick.
See the inside?
Definitely not one for the birds!
I’m going to put the recipe at the bottom, but it occurred to me that I haven’t updated the sidebar to let you know that some of my books are now available on other platforms besides Amazon.
You can get A Friend in Paris in a bunch of formats by clicking here. (The link to the kindle and paperback version is on the sidebar).
Same for A Noble Affair. Click here for all formats and see the sidebar for kindle and print.
For The Christmas Ruse (a .99 Regency novella), click here for all formats, see sidebar for kindle (no print since it’s small) and you can also get it for free by signing up for my author newsletter, which is different than this blog. It comes out on the alternate Wednesdays from when I post on this blog and has some personal news as well as books featured in the clean romance genre.
I know some of you are only interested in A Lady in France and that’s totally fine (thanks for being here!). But if you do read my books too and would like to join my FB reader group, you can find it here.
Last, but not least, you may not know this, but my memoir, Stars Upside Down, is available in audio and French as well. Stars Upside Down is not available on other platforms, but it is in Kindle Unlimited if you are signed up for that.
So enough about book news, on to the recipe that you can print out and keep.
- 150 grams butter, soft (5.5 oz)
- 60 grams Dijon mustard (1/4 cup)
- 6 eggs
- 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 140 grams flour (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) - gluten-free mix works very well.
- 2.5 teaspoons baking powder
- 140 grams gruyère, Swiss, or (my recommendation) conté. This is 2 cups of loosely grated cheese.
- 270 grams diced ham (2 cups packed).
- Preheat the oven to 180°C or 350°F.
- Beat the softened butter and add the eggs. Mix that together and add all the smaller ingredients.
- Add the flour after the smaller ingredients.
- Then mix in the cheese and ham last.
- Spread into pan and bake for 30 minutes.
- Check whether it's done and cover with foil if needed to protect the top from burning and keep the inside cooked.
- If using a traditional bread pan, cook longer and at slightly lower temperature
- Serve warm with salad or room temperature at a picnic.
