Bread On Tuesday {Round Up}

This post will serve as a parking place where you (and I!) can find links to all of the bread recipes that were featured in Bread On Tuesday these past weeks.  Does it look like a Mecca for carb eaters?  (And perhaps a Vanity Fair for those who abstain?)  

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT:

Week 1: Sweet Potato Bread

Week 2: Cheryl's Semi-Sweet Corn Bread

Week 3: Three-Cheese Bread

Week 4: Multi-Grain Bread

Week 5: Rosemary Bread

Week 6: Cheddar Biscuits

Week 7: Parmesan-Herb Focaccia 

Week 8: Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Week 9: Coconut Bread

Week 10:  Naan
Week 11: French Bread
Week 12:  Bunny Bread

And how about a few bonus breads...

some recipes that were not a part of this series?

Here is a link to Kati's Greek Olive and Feta Bread.  I've never made this bread, but I have eaten it and it is delicious!

Vee made some yummy-looking cheesy breadsticks for a birthday party in January.  I must try these!

Another recipe I intend to try is Podso's Cool Rise French Bread.  Make the dough ahead and refrigerate it until time to bake?  Yes!

Kristin served this Honey Cornbread when we came for dinner.  Even my reluctant cornbread eater loved it!

And then there's one of my favorite bread recipes:  SallyLunn.

As I told you at the beginning of my Bread On Tuesday series, I live with a girl who loves to bake, and she has done most of the bread baking around here in recent years.  But I decided to challenge myself to make 10 (I extended it to 12) different kinds of bread this winter, using both old and new recipes.  I believe I have rekindled my love of bread-making!  (Kati will have to share her baker's hat.)

A few final bread-making notes...

• A stand mixer (mine is a Kitchen Aid) simplifies bread-making!  Back in the day, before I had the stand mixer and the dough hook attachment, the time and effort for kneading would sometimes discourage me from making bread.  But all excuses are gone with these handy tools!

• Making bread from scratch is not that hard...and it really does not take a whole lot of hands-on time.  You just need some time to wait (for resting, rising, baking).  I was surprised by how little time it took me each week to make fresh bread.  As I said, the biggest time investment was time spent between steps!

• I have found that rapid rise yeast is my friend.  (Rapid rise is also known as "quick rise" or "fresh yeast."  "Bread machine yeast" is also rapid rise.)  Many of my recipes called for rapid rise yeast,  but I substituted rapid rise yeast even in those that called for "active dry yeast" and decreased the rise time by half.  

• I learned that the "very warm water" used to activate the yeast is warmer than I thought.  Although you don't want water hot enough to kill the yeast culture, it needs to be warmer than I expected.  I have measured the water with a candy thermometer to assure that it has reached the recommended temperature.  But experience has taught me how to judge the correct temperature by touch.   

 

So what about you?  Are you ready to don your baker's hat?