Factors in favor weren’t hard to find, I was down to a heel of bread that might go moldy tomorrow and it was a cool windy day anyway, far too windy to want to work outside. Gusts to 60 on the ridgetops, they say. Perfect day to stay in and make bread.
Factors against – I really didn’t want to.
But then I went over to D&L’s to pick up my water bottles, and found a good non-blog-related friend had sent me a care package…

Dig it! Apple butter, which is one of my favorite things! Apricot jam, which at a minimum will be a nice switch from dollar-store strawberry. And mango salsa! Which, … okay, I’ve never tried mango salsa but if it’s anything like mango chutney, which I have had, it’s about to become one of my favorite things.
Oh, I can’t serve this out on a near-stale heel of bread, it wouldn’t be decent. Into a nearby phone booth…

It’s Baker Joel! And in a few far-too-long hours…

Now I’ve got something I won’t mind spreading this ambrosia on. This breadbake’s for you, unnamed benefactor!
















































Mango salsa is indeed on par with apple butter for a topping…it just happens to go better with tortilla chips than bread. Growing up in the Southwest, I wound up acquiring that peculiar Central American love for that fruit sweet/crazy hot/salty combination common in their candies. When I can’t find the ground chili coated mango lollipops, mango salsa on tortilla chips serves a close second.