I’m planning on going on a real cut (as opposed to my lazy, “optional adherence” cut that I did earlier) in the new year so I’ve been living it up and baking all the breads I want to eat.

Nutella Bread Braid

I used a recipe from Inspired by Charm. I didn’t measure the Nutella but I’m fairly certain I used way more than the recipe called for. 😛 The middle was a bit goopy as a result but I was OK with that. I made it to share with a friend and she texted me later in the day to tell me she was still thinking about it, so I think it was a success!

The only other thing was I added a little sugar to the water the yeast was dissolving in to proof the yeast/give it something to eat. Not sure that makes a difference; the recipe didn’t specify the type of yeast.

• ½ teaspoon yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ cup Nutella
• Cornmeal for dusting
• 1 egg, beaten with a tablespoon of water to use as an egg wash whoops I didn’t include water but it was fine

Make the bread, let rise about an hour, roll it out, spread with Nutella and roll up like a jellyroll. Then slice it down the middle leaving one end intact; turn the cut side upward and then twist the side over one another. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes and finish at 425* for 5-7 minutes.

Raspberry Star Bread

I used a recipe from Mildly Meandering but finished it differently.

• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup warm milk
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• pinch of salt
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup raspberry jam
• 3 tbsp butter, melted Finished it with an egg wash to make it shiny. I learned this from the Nutella bread. 😛

Make the dough, let rise about an hour, split into 4. The recipe called for a 12″ round which seemed huge?? I just used a paper plate (so like…maybe 8″) to cut my circles out. Place a dough circle, spread raspberry jam, repeat twice, no jam on the top round. I used the little rice cup from my InstaPot to make a circle impression in the middle and then cut 16 sections around (cut into 4…cut each quarter in half…cut each half into half…FRACTIONS!) Take two sections that are next to each other, twist outward twice, then pinch the ends together. Let rise again and then bake for 20 minutes at 375*.

I also used too much raspberry jam—I guess this is just a problem that I have—so the interior of the star was a little doughy/didn’t bake through, but the edges were the way it was probably supposed to be.

Cheesy Pesto Pull-Apart Bread

I used this recipe from Tasty. I really liked how simple it was—the bread is straightforward and you just dump pesto and cheese on it.

For some reason my dough was really dry and wasn’t coming together, so I let it sit and hydrate for about 20 minutes before trying to knead it (with a dough hook) again. It came together after that, but I noticed that some of my yeast was just like… sitting in the bottom of the bowl? Really weird, so I kneaded it again. I was worried that kneading it after a first rise would make it weird but it turned out OK. I did have to let it rise for quite some time, definitely more than the 2 hours (combined) in the recipe—probably closer to 3-4. It was probably user error.

• 2 cups strong bread flour, plus more for dusting
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon yeast
• ⅔ cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil, plus a tiny bit for greasing
• ⅔ cup pesto
• ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
• ¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Make dough, cut into 18 pieces, roll into little balls. Coat in ball in pesto and put into a cake tin. Cover with cheese. Let rise again (mine did eventually fill up the cake tin) and then bake for like 20 minutes at 350*.

I made this the day before and reheated it—it still tasted good but I couldn’t get that goopy cheese effect back. I would consider baking the bread with the pesto and then putting the cheese on fresh when reheating.

Regular Rolls

I also made regular ol’ bread rolls from Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe’s Best Artisan Bakers by Daniel Leader. I use the basic baguette recipe but shape into smaller rolls rather than finishing as a baguette. I don’t need to type/save this recipe here because I have the book. But I’m including the picture because they turned out so nicely!

I’m trying to get more consistency in my bakes (I tend to be a little Wild West about that sort of thing) so I actually took the time to weigh out each roll and shape them similarly. I think it paid off!

Poppyseed Bagels

I have so many dang poppyseeds left over from the Makowiec that I figured I’d make some bagels. I used this recipe from Amanda Frederickson but the dough was so dry it wouldn’t even come together. I added way more than the extra 2 tbsp of water the recipe called for and eventually it came together but it was difficult to work with.

I actually made the recipe a second time because I figured the first time was just user error (especially in light of my similar struggle with the cheesy pesto bread) but the second time went the same way. I ended up having to add a bunch of extra water but even still the dough was so dry I could barely roll it—I ended up wetting my hands just to gain purchase. They turned out OK but I’ll try another recipe next time.