Like I mentioned on Thursday, I hosted this month of What’s Baking and tortured the gals by challenging them to overcome their fears of working with yeast.

And overcome they did!  Can I tell you about this amazing group of ladies?

This is what I love about the blogging community.  We’re across the country, yet I feel like I’ve known some of them for years.  They are kind, supportive, and the first in line when someone needs a laugh, a hug, or a stick if there’s a jerk making meanie comments on our blogs or stealing our blog content.  Which someone did to me.  And it took them all of like 5 seconds to hop on this other person’s blog and shake their proverbial fingers at her for stealing my content.  For a group of internet strangers, they are pretty amazing women. I can’t wait to meet some of them some day at a foodie conference.

Ok, enough sappy stuff.  Let’s talk about yeast.

We had a lot of yeast rookies for this challenge and rookies they are no longer!  Congrats ladies!  It seems that English Muffins seemed to be the trend, and I certainly don’t hate it!  I’ve been dying to make my own English Muffins. A few of the ladies didn’t have very good luck with their first yeast attempts.  This happens!  There’s a reason people are scared of yeast – its finicky!

To avoid your own yeast disasters, a little yeast 101:
1. don’t kill your yeast.  Bloom your yeast in WARM water, not hot.  It should be barely warm to the touch.
2. Let a stand mixer do the work of kneading if you can.
3. let it rise in a warm area.  If you keep your house freezing like I do, turn your stove burners on low and set the bowl in the middle.  You can also stick it in a barely still-warm oven.

Without further adieu, here are the ladies of What’s Baking!

In case your missed it, I made an insanely buttery Brioche Bread:

Yudith from Blissfully Delicious made a Caraway Rye Bread that just begs for some pastrami:

Jen from Beantown Baker introduced her sister to baking with yeast, with Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Bread:

Cara from The Boys Made Me Do It caved in to her boys’ request for homemade bread and made Soft Garlic Knots:

Heather at Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks found a no-muss, no-fuss yeast recipe that would be great for beginners with her English Muffin Bread:

Nicole from Seven Ate Nine tried a Brioche recipe (just like I did!) and took advantage of her bread machine to do all the work:

Sandra from She Cooks and Bakes conquered one of the trickiest of yeast breads and made Sourdough Bread:

Melissa from I was Born to Cook is no longer a yeast rookie!  She conquered her fear with a different version of English Muffin Bread:

Ammie from Adventures in my Kitchen may have hated me at first for this month’s theme, but she loved how her English Muffins turned out:

Stephanie and her sister at Brownies and Blondies love carbs so much, they had two submissions – Challah and Pain Polka:

Jaida at Sweet Begainnings isn’t a yeast novice, but she pushed herself to do something challenging when she made Pretzel Hot Dog Buns:

Jessica at the Jey of Cooking found this Yeasted Banana Sandwich Bread to be a piece of cake (bread?):

Carrie from Carrie’s Sweet Life found a super easy recipe that doesn’t require any kneading, I can’t wait to try her Batter Bread:

Catherine from Persuing Domestic Goddess-ness took a risk and made Homemade Pitas:

Thanks ladies for taking those fears head on!  You guys are fabulous!  Next month Ammie is challenging everyone to bake with Spring Produce, good luck!

One year ago: Mango Margaritas and Strawberry Lemonade
Two years ago: Taco Pasta Bake