Slap Ya Mama Peel-Apart Bread

Thinking outside of the box is my usual mode of cooking – whenever I get a new product, I think about how I can use it in some way besides its intended purpose.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I figured I was pretty safe in thinking about the Slap Ya Mama gumbo mix as a spice mix. It's meant for making gumbo, and it’s got flour for thickening, but it’s also got a lot of flavor. It was perfect for making a pull-apart bread, using the mix in both the dough and between the slices.

This looks impressive but it's actually pretty easy, as bread goes.

Slap Ya Mama Peel-Apart Bread
by Donna

For the dough:
1 cup lukewarm water
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) Red Star Platinum yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
3 cups (13 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon Slap Ya Mama Cajun Gumbo Dinner Mix
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

For the coating:
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft or melted
1 teaspoon Slap Ya Mama Cajun Gumbo Dinner Mix

Combine all of the dough ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer and knead until the dough is elastic. You can also mix this in a bowl, then knead by hand.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to rise until doubled in size, about an hour.

Meanwhile, have a 9 x 5 loaf pan standing by and heat the oven to 350°F. Combine the butter and seasoning for the coating in a small bowl.

When the dough has doubled, flour your work surface and turn out the dough. Divide it into 16 pieces. Truthfully, you don't need exactly 16, but it's easy. Divide the dough into 4 pieces, then divide each of those into 4. They don't have to be identical, but they should be close to the same size.

Form each piece into a ball then flatten each to form a disk about 4 inches in diameter.

Stand or tilt the pan so it's standing on one of the short ends. Place one of the disks into the pan lying on the short end. Brush the top of that disk with the butter mixture. Place the next disk on top of the first, and brush with butter again. Continue stacking dough disks with butter between until you reach the last disk. Don't brush the top of that one.

Once all the disks are in the pan, stand the pan on its bottom and arrange the disks so they're even in the pan. Brush or drizzle any remaining butter on top of the dough.

Cover the pan with plastic wrap and set aside until it rises about a bit over the top of the pan, about 40 minutes.

When the dough has risen, remove the plastic wrap and bake at 350°F until nicely browned, about 45 minutes.

Remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool completely on a rack. You can pull layers off if it, or slice it to serve.