This recipe is pepper belly
suicide!!!! Do not attempt to consume without something wet and cold
in your other hand!!!!!
This is definitely a hot one, but it's also one of
the fastest disappearing recipes I have.
This is a scavanger recipe, usually made at pot luck
dinners, preferably Cajun, such as a crawdad boil. This infers that
most of the ingredients are selected off of the serving table in
relatively small amounts. Consequently, it reflects the tastes of
those attending. The name in true French is espice crevice panpokete
(spicy crawfish pocket bread). I named it bouderbreaux with bouder
(French for pout, the root word for boudior, the pouting room), since
most people arriving at the table too late to get any usually pout.
Breaux is the closest sounding thing to bread that is definitely
French in spelling. The name is not truly French, but neither is
gumbo. Disclaimer stated.
18 oz. stone ground wheat bread dough, not yet risen for the
second time.
1 lb crawfish boiled and shelled tail meat (give or take) (deveining
optional by region)
8 oz can of tomato sauce
garlic powder, cayenne, & white pepper
table offerings (sausage, chicken, mushrooms, grated raw vegetables,
etc)
The recipe begins with the sauce, rather simple, but toxic.
Do not smell the sauce as it's cooking! (To
find out why, just try it once.)
I don't measure the spices, rather sight guess. This is
respective to the fact that the stuffing options vary and spices must
be calibrated from what is selected as filler. The cook's mood plays
a role as well. The white pepper is the real explosives and should be
eliminated for those who can not bear the real hot stuff. If you have
a brave, fiery, and demanding crowd, pour it on and have the hankies
ready to soak up the excess nogin' dew. Either way is an experience.
I run it hot and dangerous to please my usual crowd. (2" of
bouderbreaux per beer)
Place the tomato sauce in a small pot (6" across at max)
and cover the top with garlic powder, enough to hide the red, but not
so much as to leave any dry from contact with the sauce. Next comes
the cayenne, laid out the same, but in a smaller circle, as if
creating a bull's eye for archery (concentric). The bull's eye is the
white pepper.
Stir thoroughly as it cooks
to avoid hot spots. Continue simmering as the next step is taken.
Roll out the bread dough with a rolling pin on a clean,
smooth surface. Flouring is optional, and I avoid it, since the bread
must be sealed to itself. Once the bread is rolled smooth, cut
lengthwise (long axis) into two pieces. Paint the dough slices down
the middle with one fourth of the sauce, dividing equally. Do not
place the sauce near the edges, since the bread must be sealed
against itself. Lay the crawfish and other ingredients atop the sauce
and roll the sides of the dough together and seal. It should look
like french bread loaves. Place on a jelly roll sheet (cooking sheet
with low sides) and cook at 350 degrees F for ~ 25 minutes. Bread
crust will be crisp, but not dark as expected of stone ground wheat.
Allow a couple of minutes to cool, and cut into 2 inch slices with a
bread knife and stand back.
Each loaf can be different ingredients, and I generally
run four at a time when serving a group of people, one with just
crawfish for those who don't eat red meat, one with sausage added,
and the other two more complex. If doing just two (one loaf of bread
dough), save the remaining sauce for the next batch. For convenience,
I prefer using frozen bread dough, since the initial process at a
gathering is a lot of hassle. I use premade frozen dough for this, as
well as for pizza crust. That's good too. Look for that recipe here
in future postings.