The 25 Breads

One of my goals for my 25 before 25 list was to bake 25 breads before April 7, 2016. I got a late start on the project – I didn’t bake my first bread of this project until October! But since then I’ve been baking about a bread a week and I’m close to reaching my goal. Some of them I forgot to take a picture of, but all were delicious and it was so fun to make them. Check them out below for recipe sources, photos when I have them, and a little review.

#1: Peasant Bread

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Recipe: From Alexandra Cooks

Review: So good! It stuck to the sides of the baking dish for me, but the taste was awesome. We ate it (both loaves) in about two days – I would definitely make this again.

#2: Homemade Pizza

Homemade Pizza Revisited >> Life In Limbo

Recipe: From Elise Joy

Review: Really amazing. This has become our go-to dough recipe because it bakes up perfectly and is so delicious. I recently made a double batch and stored the dough balls in the freezer to be thawed for fresh pizza whenever.

#3. The World’s Easiest Vegan Sticky Buns

Sticky Cinnamon Buns >> Life In Limbo

Recipe: from Minimalist Baker

Review: So good, but I shouldn’t have eyeballed the butter measurements for the glaze – our glaze ended up sort of just soaking into the buns instead of getting really nice and sticky like it’s meant to. These were easy and looked beautiful but the taste wasn’t as good without the glaze.

#4. Chocolate Banana Bread

Chocolate Banana Bread >> Life In Limbo

Recipe: from Smitten Kitchen

Review: This was yummy! I made it with plantains instead of bananas by accident so the taste was a bit different than your typical banana bread, but it was still good.

#5. Pumpkin Bread

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Recipe: from My New Roots

Review: A really yummy, simple bread. It was made harder because I had to make the pumpkin purée from scratch but she even includes instructions for that so it was no big deal.

#6. Pan de Yuca

Recipe: from my boyfriend’s mom

Review: These are easily one of my favourite Ecuadorian foods and it’s fun that I actually learned how to make them from scratch! In Ecuador they come out perfect every time, but back home in Canada you sometimes get mixed results. Still, awesome.

#7. Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

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Recipe: from Joy the Baker

Review: Not to be made in the toaster oven again!! Or at least not without a little more watchfulness. This bread rose so much when it got put in the oven that the top ended up getting a little burnt. It was still a yummy bread, and wasn’t too hard even though it looked pretty impressive when it was done.

#8. Sally Lunn Batter Bread

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Recipe: from Smitten Kitchen

Review: Unfortunately, this one got burnt at the top too, but after this I got a lot more careful with my breads in the tiny toaster oven (read: watching and the use of aluminum foil). Despite the tiny burned spot, this bread was delicious, I would definitely make it again.

#9. Herbed White Bread

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Recipe: Not sure

Review: I whipped this one up one afternoon when I was having a really bad day, and ate a lot of it when I wasn’t feeling very well. So needless to say I don’t have overly fond memories of this bread.

#10. Easy Little Bread

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Recipe: from 101 Cookbooks

Review: Just like the name says, this one is easy to make, and yummy to eat. I would definitely make it again.

#11. Cornbread

Recipe: from Closet Cooking

Review: This was a baking soda + baking powder bread that I made before I learned how to bake at Quito’s 2900+ meter altitude, so it didn’t work out exactly right. It was a little too crumbly and not all that good – I remember promising Paulo I would make another, better one soon.

#12. One Banana Banana Bread

Recipe: from Faux Martha

Review: Sadly, this was the victim of the great January 2016 Loaf Pan Shattering and so I have no idea how it would have tasted. It looked good when it came out…for about 3 seconds until it fell to its death. I might try making it again because it seems like a great recipe for when you just have one lone banana.

#13. The Best Damn Vegan Biscuits

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Recipe: from Minimalist Baker

Review: Why yes, these were amazing. You could tell by how quickly we ate them. I didn’t have vegan butter so I used regular, and they turned out perfectly. Yum.

#14. Homemade Crescent Rolls

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Recipe: from Baking Bites

Review: Good, not great. Definitely not Pillsbury quality (of course), but just had a flavour to them I didn’t love. They were super cute, however.

#15. Cinnamon Swirl Bread

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Recipe: from Pinch of Yum

Review: So impressive-looking, not hard to make, and really and truly delicious. The cinnamon filling is just gooey enough that it reheats really well.

#16. No-Knead Loaf

Recipe: from Sandra’s Easy Cooking

Review: A simple, nothing-fancy bread that we ate and enjoyed for a few days.

#17. Zucchini Bread Muffins

Recipe: from Smitten Kitchen

Review: I made these into muffins instead of the loaf and they were awesome. We enjoyed them while my friend Katie was visiting, and it was nice to have them ready to go as breakfast or snacks for the week.

#18. Canadian Living Banana Loaf

Recipe: from Canadian Living

Review: Yummy, but not as good as I remember my mom making it. Again, I made this for when we had guests and it went very quickly.

#19. Carrot Muffins

Recipe: from Cookie + Kate

Review: Delicious, and a great way to use up old carrots. Ours started to go bad after a few days and we had to throw away the last few, but they were nice while they lasted.

#20. Maple Cornbread Muffins

Recipe: slightly adapted from Averie Cooks

Review: Very yummy and very easy! I brought them to my book club and they were a big hit.

#21. Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread

Recipe: from PopSugar

Review: Yummy, but not worth the long rise time – it tasted just as good as some of the other simple loaves on this list that were easier.

#22. Best Pizza Dough Ever

Recipe: from 101 Cookbooks

Review: Good, but fussier than our other favourite pizza dough recipe. This one needs longer rise times every time you want to make a pizza, which is not so fun. We’ll be switching back to our other recipe soon.

#23. Masitas for Ecuadorian Easter

Recipe: from my boyfriend’s mother

Review: Easy, yummy, and kind of adorable. Excessively good for snacking on several at a time.