I just think that putting bread yeast and orange pith in a quality drink is rubbish. It costs the same to buy wine yeast and 10 min to peel and zest the oranges.... 10 min to remove 2 huge factors in off flavors... Yes please
I have made meads with both bread yeast and wine yeast. They DO have different characteristics that may be beneficial for what you are trying to achieve in the end product. The bread yeast leaves the mead pretty sweet. The pith from the oranges leaves a nice subtle bitterness that very nicely balances out the sweetness. It's definitely NOT as bitter as sucking on an orange peel.
I have made the real JAOM recipe multiple times and have made modified versions of the recipe (such as leaving out the pith, or using orange juice, or using wine yeast), and I feel that the original recipe is still FAR superior to the modified recipes that I have done. You really should make a batch of the original recipe and see for yourself. It's really not that expensive to make a 1 gallon batch. I have been making 5 gallon batches of the original recipe, because it's so damn good.