13 best bread recipes

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The Secrets of Baking Bread Revealed

The way the most basic of ingredients—flour, water, yeast, and salt—can magically turn from a pale lump of dough into a beautifully browned loaf can seem like a total mystery. We’ll show you that baking the perfect loaf is no mystery. Our kitchen testing has resulted in guaranteed-to-work recipes that we pair with helpful tips and tricks and recipe-specific sidebars that bakers of all skill levels can benefit from.

Butter Fan Rolls

Fancy enough for dinner parties, these rolls are also great pulled apart and slathered with sweet jam for breakfast. Their success lies in their layers. We kept the construction process easy with a roll, cut, butter, and stack technique. Once we’d built the stacks, we placed them cut side up in a muffin tin. Voilà—your new anytime, go-to rolls.

No-Knead Brioche

Achieving a tender crumb and a buttery flavor that’s richer than that of any other sandwich bread can cause a butter-induced headache, what with the multiple additions of butter interspersed with laborious kneading. We simply melted the butter, combined all the ingredients, and let the dough rest in the fridge—and the loaf stitched itself together in 16 hands-off hours.

Sourdough Bread

Our sourdough culture is dead simple to make, and we ensure a prolonged steamy oven environment that encourages crisp, charred crusts on this and other rustic breads in the book by pouring boiling water over disposable pans full of preheated lava rocks (yes, the ones used for gas grills), which absorb and retain heat.

Panettone

Our remarkably light, fluffy version sticks with traditional flavorings (golden raisins, candied orange peel, and vanilla and almond extracts) and relies on long fermentation and proofing times to maximize the gas development from the yeast in the dough.

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No-Knead Bread

This recipe will provide you with the simplest, most basic way to get a fresh and delicious loaf of bread onto your table.

Pizza with Tomato and Mozzarella

This classic pizza is a great way to get dinner on the table and please everyone. Plus, it makes a perfect base for any new or creative toppings.

Brioche Cinnamon Rolls

Brioche dough makes gorgeous cinnamon rolls. These soft, fluffy, and tender rolls are elevated with a delicious cinnamon filling.

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A range of flavorful recipes

Explore a variety of sweet and savory breads, including basic breads, sourdough breads, holiday breads, and fruit breads.

Bread machine essentials

Get the most out of your bread machine with practical pointers about the cycles and settings of the most popular models.

Troubleshooting advice

Learn how to solve common bread-making problems like too much rise, coarse texture, mushroom top, and more.

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All you knead

Become a bread baking pro with a walkthrough of the basics, including tools of the trade, must-have ingredients, and troubleshooting tips.

Breads from abroad

Explore a range of diverse cultures and holidays, including recipes hailing from Scandinavia, Korea, India, Morocco, Germany, and beyond.

Year-round yum

Celebrate and savor each special day with 75 sweet and savory recipes, such as Pane di Pasqua, Native American Frybread, and Pumpkin Spice Waffles.

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Chuck William's Country French

Tane di Semola is made using a simple straight dough. Be sure to use the finely ground semolina flour that is used for making pasta rather than the coarser grind that is similar to farina, a protein-rich flour also ground from durum wheat. This bread is a good one to choose if you will be using the Delay Timer. It is fantastic warm with garlic butter melting in, and also makes great bruschetta.

Directions

Place all the ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer’s instructions. Set crust on dark and program for the French Bread or Basic cycle; press Start. (This recipe may be made using the Delay Timer.)

When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.

FETA AND SPINACH BREAD

Feta cheese is always associated with Greek cooking. It is a firm white sheep’s milk cheese that crumbles easily and holds its shape during baking. It is stored in brine, so feta should be rinsed in cold water before using. If storing it again, cover it with fresh water. Feta has a strong salty nature, so you don’t need to add as much salt to this dough as to others. Because of its strong flavor, a little feta goes a long way.

APPLE CHALLAH

Challah is a traditional Jewish egg bread that has no peer as far as I am concerned, because of its delicate cakelike texture. This nondairy version makes a traditional stuffed braided apple and honey bread suitable for Rosh Hashanah. Some bakers like to use two or three different types of apples in their fillings, rather than just one, for different flavors and textures. This loaf is baked in the oven.

MARZIPAN KRINGLE

I love bread made in the beautiful pretzel shape. Whole loaves shaped into pretzels may be unfamiliar to you, but for centuries this has been the shape of bread made for weddings and holidays. Some bakers prefer to shape this loaf into a thick horseshoe instead. Marzipan, also called massepain in French—simply almond paste—is one of my favorite fillings. It is a combination of ground almonds, sugar, and egg whites beaten into a meringue. It is said to have been invented in Milan by nuns. Serve this kringle for brunch with coffee, or tea, and fresh orange juice, and savor every bite.

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The Tartine Way

The bread at San Francisco's legendary Tartine Bakery sells out within an hour almost every day. At 5 P.M., these rugged, magnificent loaves are drawn from the oven. The first cut yields steam and room-filling aroma, exposing an open and tender interior underneath the burnished, substantial crust. This distinctive bread was developed by renowned baker Chad Robertson over a decade of working with one of the finest artisan bakers in the United States and France, followed by another decade baking solo in a small wood-fired oven on the coast of Northern California. The following for this singular bread far exceeds the bakery's limited daily production.

Only a handful of bakers have apprenticed to learn the techniques Chad has developed.

Now it's your turn to make this bread with your own hands. Clear instructions and hundreds of step-by-step photos put you by Chad's side as he shows you how to make exceptional and elemental bread using just flour, water, and salt.

Chad then explains how it all works and shows how variations from this master recipe lead to wonderfully diverse breads. Soon you will be able to create your own unique and personal loaf. Also included are more than 30 sweet and savory recipes using the day-old bread to make sandwiches, classic soups, puddings, delicious baked French toast, and an addictive Kale Caesar.