How To Make: Kudu Bread with Bacon Butter

Following the resounding success of Kudu on Queens Road, Peckham, Amy Corbin and Patrick Williams have since opened Smokey Kudu, a neighbourhood cocktail bar also on Queen’s Road; Curious Kudu, a gallery and private dining space; and Kudu Grill, a new restaurant on Nunhead Lane.

Occupying a former Truman’s pub, Kudu Grill continues the group’s focus on South African food, with particular attention paid to the braai, using wood and charcoal to grill dishes such as potato flatbread with lardo and wild garlic, prawns with peri peri butter, or dry-aged T-bone steak with beer pickled onions and onion treacle bordelaise. With Chef Patron Patrick Williams bringing his South African roots to the fore, adding a playful twist to traditional food from the country, Kudu showcases bold flavours, plus fresh, seasonal British ingredients – some of which are sourced from the founders’ nearby allotment. Highlights from the Kudu Collective portfolio’s menus include the likes of fried pigs’ tails with honey mustard, Kalahari spiced biltong, or Kudu bread with smoked bacon butter and sage or melted seafood butter and baby shrimp.

Yielding enough for two loaves, Patrick Williams’ Kudu bread recipe is made up of small rolls using a dough enriched with raisins, ground cumin, and topped with caster sugar before baking. The accompanying bacon butter, on the other hand, is made by crisping smoked back bacon in a pan before mixing it with unsalted butter, sage leaves, flat leaf parsley, and fresh garlic.

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Kudu Bread with Bacon Butter

A recipe for Kudu Bread from the Peckham restaurant of the same name, paired with melted bacon butter.

Course Bread

Cuisine South African

Keyword Bacon, Baking, Bread, Kudu

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 2 loaves (20 rolls)

Author Patrick Williams, Kudu Collective

Equipment

• 2 x 900g loaf tins

Ingredients

• 100 g raisins
• 5 g fast-action yeast
• 1 kg organic bread flour plus extra for dusting
• 100 g unsalted butter plus extra to grease
• 50 ml whole milk plus 1 tbsp extra
• 100 g caster sugar plus 1 tbsp extra
• 10 g fine salt
• 10 g ground cumin
• 1 egg

For the bacon butter

• 200 g smoked back bacon rashers cut into small pieces
• 200 g unsalted butter
• 8 sage leaves roughly chopped
• 1 bunch flat leaf parsley roughly chopped
• 1 clove garlic chopped

Instructions

• Boil the raisins in 300ml water for 10 minutes; cool until lukewarm. Dissolve the yeast in 50ml lukewarm water then add to the raisin mixture. Stir well, cover and set aside for 4 hours. Put 500g flour in a large mixing bowl. Sieve and discard the raisins, then, using a wooden spoon, stir the liquid into the flour, along with 180ml warm water. Cover with oiled cling film; leave for 1 hour.
• Melt the butter and add 50ml milk. Add to the dough, along with 250ml warm water. Add the 100g sugar, the salt and cumin, plus the remaining 500g flour. Knead well, adding more flour if needed, until a smooth surface is formed on the dough. Cover with oiled cling film and leave overnight in the fridge.
• Grease 2 x 900g loaf tins and dust with flour, tapping out the excess. Shape the dough into 20 small buns, about 90g each, and place 10 in each tin. Cover with oiled cling film and allow to rise in the tins, until doubled in size (around 40-50 minutes). Preheat the oven to 200˚C, gas mark 6.
• Beat the egg with 1 tbsp each of milk and sugar, then brush over the proved loaves. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and set; cover with foil towards the end, if browning too much. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the bacon butter. Crisp the bacon in a frying pan over a medium heat (6-8 minutes). Add the butter and heat until it foams, then add the herbs and garlic for 10 seconds. Serve with the bread for dipping.

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