A Multitude of Breads

I've been up to my ears in breads. MMMmmmmm. I do love bread. There is no way on earth that I could ever do an Atkins-type diet. No bread? How horrific!

As mentioned in an earlier post, I am working on a list of breads and spreads to be the taste samples for our wonderful church's Holiday Specialtea. Last week I really kicked it into high gear and made a large assortment of breads so I thought I'd share my findings with you. (The recipe titles are hyper-linked so go ahead and click to see the recipe).

Okay the first I made was Syrian Bread. It turned out pretty well. The first two did not puff up but the last six did. It really wasn't anything special. I think I would have preferred it to be a whole wheat pita. It was fun to use them for pita sandwiches with the kids. Over all, I give it a B- and think I'd look for another recipe for pita bread. So this one was taken off the list.

The second bread of the week was King Arthur's Asagio Ciabatta. This one is a two day process but relatively simple to make. The bread tasted great the first day - loved the chunks of oozy cheese. Sliced and used to make a turkey sandwich the next day, my husband said it was good enough to cater. I'm an even bigger fan of cheese than I am bread so putting the two of them together can't be wrong. This one goes on the list!

Next, I tried Lavash Cracker Bread. Very, very similar to the Syrian Bread in ingredients but totally different in texture. I felt it needed some visual "oomf" so I sprinkled with black sesame seeds while I rolled the subsequent rounds. They do need to be docked (pricked all over with a fork) before they were baked. I know the recipe author says you need to roll them very, very thin but I did and the first two still puffed up like pita bread. The docking took care of that problem. I paired this with a spread - Greek Feta and Olive spread. Oh my. OH MY! If you love Greek food (and I do!) then by all means, you must make this yummy spread. Delish!

Lastly, not to leave out our sweet breads, I made Coconut Pineapple Loaf Cake from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food PBS show. I know Martha Stewart has a reputation for using expensive, hard-to-find ingredients but Everyday Food is not like that at all. This quick bread/cake was a big hit at our small group bible study last night. Different and easy to make I call it a winner. The only change I would make would be to use pineapple tidbits (very well drained - maybe even pressed in a paper towel) and would be to increase the baking time by another 15 minutes.

So there you go! I'm sorry I don't have photos. I really should have snapped some but you know how life goes!