This week's bread is our Dried Pepper, Corn Grit and Jack Cheese Sourdough. A lot of flavor and spice!

Our event manager, Katy, loves this bread with her favorite homemade cheese spread: Edna Lewis's Pimento Cheese spread.

Edna Lewis believed Southern Food belonged in the category of great cuisines and she was willing to whisk, dredge, fry and teach her way into spreading that word.

It worked.

Her name is synonomous with Southern cuisine and cooks, like me, for whom southern food isn't an absolute favorite, still treasure her books, stories, and recipes. You can read more about her in this wonderful profile.

I'm including below Edna's recipe for homemade mayo. But if you want to make this quickly (it comes together so fast for company!), go ahead and use good store-bought. Duke's brand, if you can find it. That's the southern way. 

Katy recommends you use buy a block of aged cheddar and grate it for this recipe. The extra step makes a big difference in flavor and texture. 

Edna Lewis's Pimento Cheese

From The Gift of Southern Cooking by Edna Lewis & Scott Peacock

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups (10 ounces) grated extra-sharp cheese

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt, to taste

5-6 grinds black pepper

3/4 cup Mayonnaise

3 tablespoons finely chopped roasted red bell pepper or pimentos, for topping the spread 

Directions

Stir until well-mixed and creamy. Taste carefully and adjust season as needed.

Cover and store, refrigerated, until ready for use.

Homemade Mayo

Ingredients

1 tablespoon code vinegar

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

2 egg yolks

1-1/2 cups vegetable oil or light olive oil

1 tablespoon hot water

Directions>

Put the vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and mustard into a bowl and whisk or stir until the salt and mustard are dissolved. Add the egg yolks and beat until smooth. Add the oil drop by drop at first, and then in a steady stream, whisking or stirring constantly until all of the oil has been incorporated and you have a thick emulsion. Stir in the hot water until smooth.

Refrigerated, homemade mayo will keep for up to 1 week.