Instructions: Heres a summary of what I learned:
1. Yeast breads work just fine without the use of any sweetener; however, you do need to allow more rising time so the yeast can grow. Several suggested using the "sponge" method or sticking with sourdough starters.

2. Some reported much success using barley malt , brown rice syrup, or maple syrup in place of refined sugar. As suspected, yeast seems to thrive on these sweeteners just as well as on sugar and honey.

3. The herbal sweetener, Stevia, wont offer any good food source for the yeast, but it is fine to use if you want sweeter bread. It will hold up in cooking. If you use it, then treat the dough as if you added no sweetener.

4. Concentrated fruit juices work well, too.

If you are interested in a comparison of various sweeteners, including a substitution chart, check out this site: http://outpostcoop.com/sweetner.htm

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