The moment I read this recipe for prosciutto bread from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible I was in love. It addition to the ham, it calls for bacon grease, but here in the South every cook worth their salt has a jar of bacon fat in the fridge so that wasn't an issue. I even had some prosciutto in the freezer – I headed for the kitchen. The prosciutto I had was, as usual, paper thin, but the next time I made the bread I bought some prosciutto cut more thickly.

If ever, in a moment of aimless wondering, you've pondered what heaven might smell like, I now know. It smells like a combination of bacon cooking and bread baking. And if you could eat heaven, it just might taste like this bread. (Larger image.) Makes 1 loaf.