I love bacon, but hate the mess of frying it. So as a change I decided to bake some.
Lay out all your bacon on a pan, shake on some black pepper and bake at 400F for 18 minutes.
It is good, but I needed more pepper.
Do you bake bacon and how do you flavor yours?
What’s the texture like? Is it chewy?
It depends on how long you bake it and of course how consistent your heat is. But you can make it chewy or crisper, depending on your tastes.
It comes out perfect. Every piece is evenly cooked. You can easily control the level of done-ness from floppy to cracker crisp. It doesn’t make a mess. It doesn’t require constant attention.
Cooking bacon in the oven is the proper way to cook bacon. Accept no substitutes.
Seconded. I cook it at whatever temperature I’m already using and just leave it until it’s done the way I like it. I don’t flavor mine; bacon flavor is good enough for me.
Extra bonus: you also wind up with a nice amount of bacon grease to save in a jar and cook with!
It also works well in the toaster oven. Great if you’re only doing a few pieces. Lay it out on the rack that fits in the little cookie sheet thing then the bacon isn’t cooking in its own grease.
My second batch ended up crisper than the first - the oven was hotter.
Five minutes before it’s done, brush it with maple syrup.
Eat it while wearing plate gauntlets, as other diners will get a little stabby over that last piece.
Alton turned me on to roasted bacon, and it’s devoon. The OP says “Lay out all your bacon on a pan” but I wouldn’t dream of doing it without doing it on a cooling rack over a heavy-foil-lined half sheet.
You can’t “set it and forget it,” though. When it is nearing being done, you do have to attend to it very closely, because in my experience the line between just right and toxic waste is razor thin. I go at 410 and set my timer for 15 minutes, then check it every 2-3 minutes after. At the first signs of semi-done, I flip it.
My girlfriend has been spoiled to bacon done any other way.
My wife’s aunt deep-fries bacon in vegetable oil. It curls up like crazy, but it tastes awesome.
Yes, but the trick is to schedule your by-pass surgery before you eat it. 
I’m going to try the roasted bacon trick but unless it tastes like Baked Swoon, I’ll probably just continue to microwave bacon – quicker and less mess.
It’s the only we do bacon around here.
The secret is to take it out of the oven before it looks done. If you wait until it looks all crispy, it often ends up crumbly.
A few pieces of bacon? How is this possible? I thought it was a cardinal sin not to cook (and eat) the entire package of bacon at once.
I was not planning on eating all that I cooked today, but the supply is rapidly diminishing.
I’ve done this before, I’ve not noticed any difference from frying it though. As an aside you can also bake as well. I use aluminum foil, put some Pam on it throw a few eggs on and bake them till they are like you want them.
It takes longer but the eggs turn out exactly like you like them. In other words I’m too lazy to watch them when I fry them 
I love the baced bacon. The only problem is that I want to cook too much of it and wind up getting lots of grease and some uneven cooking where pieces stick together.
It works fine directly on a half sheet, no foil necessary. You just have to add the step of draining the bacon after you pull it out of the oven. I prefer doing it on a rack, but no rack, broiler pan, etc. will work in a pinch.
I think the texture is better out of the oven, and the cleanup is just about the same. Either way, you end up with a plate or pan full of bacon fat.
It isn’t as fast though, to be sure.
No no, my friend. The bacon rests on a few sheets of paper toweling in the microwave (and is covered with a few more), so clean-up is merely tossing same in the trash. Of course, if you’re intentionally trying to capture the infarcting deliciousness that is pure bacon grease, this isn’t the way to go. But I like my bacon thoroughly cooked and not greasy, so if I’m not using the grease for something else (like to cook onions or mushrooms or eggs), the micro method works for me. But I’ll give roasting a try, just to see if the end product tastes better enough to justify foregoing the easier way.
One trick I’ve learned along these lines, from this very board in fact, is to do frozen french fries this way. Instead of just putting the fries in the oven like the package says, you cover the top and bottom of the pan with bacon before baking the fries. They come out perfectly and bacon-flavored, and then you also have bacon to eat.