Happy Valentine's weekend! I really love Valentines Day. I love the aisles at the store that are full of pink and red. And I think it's great that we have a day to celebrate love, which according to John Lennon, is all we need!
The breads for this week were chosen wisely as they both reflect the holiday in different ways. The red beet buns were an obvious for their red color. I'll be honest, I wasn't that excited about this particular bread, but my curiosity kept me from skipping it. As it turns out, this has been my favorite so far! Of course the fact that I stuffed the buns full of cheese probably helped, but seriously, I loved the red "beety-onion-y" flavor of this bread. And the best part...my veggie/fruit hating son ate about three of these! (evil laughter...you're eating beets little boy!)
I made the dough per the instructions, and when it came time to bake them, I rolled the dough out to about an inch thickness, and spread garlic powder, Parmesan, mozzarella and sharp provolone. I rolled it up jelly style, sliced and baked. Pretty much like a savory cinnamon roll. The only downside is that the dough made my fridge smell pretty funky, but it was worth it. I'll be making this again!
The second bread was supposed to be a chocolate-espresso combination, but neither of us are coffee drinkers, and my husband finds the flavor of coffee abominable. So, instead I added a good helping of ground cinnamon for a nice subtle bite to the bread. Before baking the bread I worked in some extra chocolate chunks, the zest of an orange and some dried cherries and cranberries. It came out a very fun and pretty loaf of bread, but I wasn't too crazy about the taste. Since it's still a yeast bread, it never got too sweet and lacked a bit in flavor. It's basically something that you have to turn INTO a dessert. So I did what any sensible chocolate lover would do, smothered it in Nutella and strawberries. Now we're talking.
I think this bread has a lot of possibilities for a lot of fun desserts, however, I don't see myself making it again. I just think if I'm going to spend my calories making and eating a dessert, it's going to be something a little less...uh healthy!
Be sure to check out the other wonderful HBi5 entries here.
Have a wonderful Valentine's weekend my friends!
Have a wonderful Valentine's weekend my friends!
that is a genius idea to stuff the beet buns with cheese! I wish I had thought of that. They look great!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the bread. I liked the apple strudel bread infinitely more. I think this chocolate bread would make a great bread pudding though!
I can't believe your husband doesn't like the flavor of coffee! The chocolate cinnamon bread looks especially delicious.
ReplyDeleteYum - I especially love the beet bread!
ReplyDeleteBeets in bread? Interesting. Well, there's cheese in it, so I'll give it a go.
ReplyDeleteDid you tell your son he was eating beets after he ate three of those beet buns? They're interesting sounding but I'm kinda like your son a little leery of anything too veggie like. :)
ReplyDelete~ingrid
Both of your breads turned out great. I haven't been to sure about the beet bread but you've convinced me to try it...sometime. I really want to try the recipe from this book!
ReplyDeleteThat chocolate cinnamon bread is just like screaming my name. Looks so perfect for this household. Nice substitution with the cinnamon !!
ReplyDeleteI just made my Red Beet Buns tonight and we loved them. And I'm with you, this is my favorite bread so far...delicious. Love the idea of stuffing the beet bread with cheese too!
ReplyDeleteCinnamon is a great substitute for the espresso in the Chocolate Espresso Bread. I was excited to try the Espresso Bread but I really liked the Pumpkin Pie Brioche much better.
Gosh, Teresa!! Those buns look absolutely DELIGHTFUL! Oh wow!
ReplyDeleteNutella and strawberrie will make anything better!!! lol.....
ReplyDeleteBeets huh?! Sounds crazy enough that I think I like it!!!
ReplyDeleteI wish my Hubby was an adventurous eater, but unless it looks like something that June Cleaver would make, he won't even taste it. Since there's just the two of us here, it makes experimenting hard to do. Thats why I "live through" bakers like yourself...you go girl!!
ReplyDeleteWe love beets..but do we love beets in bread. We love cheese. Hmmm... I might be persuaded to give this a try. The addition of the cheese was inspired! The bread sure looks mighty good.
ReplyDeleteNot much of a chocolate bread person, I'm afraid. The idea sounds interesting, but I'm with you, I think it might not have a whole lot of chocolate flavor, the way a cake would, for instance. Good effort though, and certainly worth the experiment. Glad you tried it and shared your thoughts on it.
You are so groovy!
Wishing your cup of love is overflowing today!
"Your eating beets little boy" - LOL! That statement just cracked me up! Sounds like you had a wonderful idea to roll the beet dough with cheese and your chocolate bread looks really pretty. I ran out of time and didn't get around to my breads.
ReplyDeleteI just joined that group and need to get started on making some bread - although today I am going to start with the classic bread and move on from there.
ReplyDeleteAnd pretty sure cheese makes everything better!
Happy Valentine's Day!
owwwwwwww- two delicious breads- cheese and chocolate? Awesome! Both are just perfect for Valentine's day! I hope you are enjoying the day
ReplyDeleteGreat job on these. It's so funny that you and I had opposite ideas on these breads! I wouldn't make the beet bread again...but love the chocolate breads! I'm so glad that Michelle had us try two diverse recipes like these!
ReplyDeletelove what you did with these gave it Teresa's special touch great job
ReplyDeleteHappy Valentines
Rebecca
I saw the picture of your beet bun and sad to myself it looks like there is cheese in it. I kept on reading and sure enough, cheese! what a great idea.
ReplyDeleteI am curious to hear how others feel but I did not taste one bit of coffee flavor in that chocolate bread. Only intense chocolate flavor.
Love that you did the beets, but i would have found an excuse
ReplyDeletelooks great though
wow, cheese in the beet bread, nice idea. I liked both the breads, but like you I think the chocolate bread has a lot of possiblities for dessert.
ReplyDeleteNutella and strawberries on your chocolate bread -- brilliant! I haven't had a whole lotta luck with chocolate breads myself. Same as you, I guess, they're never quite chocolatey enough for me. My best attempt so far was canned crescent rolls, each one rolled up with a little square of chocolate in it. Not exactly a healthy breakfast ;) but chocolatey enough for this girl!
ReplyDeleteAnd beet buns! Wow, I'm impressed that you tried them. And even more impressed that they were good.
You were so creative with those breads. They looked delicious.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had thought of using cinnamon instead of the espresso- it sounds wonderful. I loved your post.
ReplyDeleteWow, cheese! Weren't you the person who added cheese last time? What a wonderful addition.
ReplyDeleteomg...your cheese addition is brilliant!! Wish I had thought of that. Maybe it would've hid some the beet flavor (that I can't stand LOL)
ReplyDeleteCHEESE! Great idea. The only thing better would have been cheese and bacon.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to stuff the beet buns with cheese. I liked them, but I think they would've tasted even better with cheese.
ReplyDeleteI also think the chocolate bread would be good as bread pudding. We crumbled the tangerine bars on top of ice cream. Yum!
Love the savory cheesy rolls. Brilliant! Funny you didnt care for the chocolate bread. I loved it! I was thinking it would make a fun French Toast!
ReplyDeleteYou got creative with the beet bread and it looks great!
ReplyDelete~Jenny~