18 Homemade Breads to Fit Any Schedule

These simple cream biscuits are a take on the ever-delicious and classic buttermilk biscuits. And just as you’d expect with any biscuit, these are slightly crisp on the outside and pillow-soft on the inside.

Classic buttermilk biscuits are a staple in my household. Quick, easy, and light as a feather, they can be served for breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and even dessert.

Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian biscuit recipe calls for either yogurt or buttermilk, all-purpose or cake flour and butter. I had some low-fat Greek yogurt, bread flour and Earth Balance spread, and since I was making do, I decided to give it a try. The results? Fluffy, flavorful biscuits that disappeared pretty quickly. Turns out, making do tastes pretty good.

Sometimes you just need a biscuit. One that’s warm from the oven and pillow-soft in the middle. These particular scruffy-looking biscuits have become a recent obsession of mine, owing in great part to the fact that they’re incredibly easy to throw together. They’re also studded with bits of smoky bacon and flavored with sharp cheddar cheese – who can resist that?

This flatbread is the perfect preamble to the wide world of bread baking. The method, ingredients and all around experience is simple and the results spectacular. It can be adapted to taste with the addition of chopped herbs or flavored olive oil and the final result is fabulous sandwiched with a few slices of cured meat.

The pitas you make at home are worlds apart from the stuff you buy in stores, and watching them puff to glorious heights in your oven or on your stovetop is culinary magic at its best. Here’s how we do it.

A great gluten-free treat from Nice, France.

Who doesn’t love a good ciabatta roll? There’s the crust that is first crisp, then chewy. And then that soft spongy crumb with all its beautiful holes, perfect for mopping up the last bits of sauce from the plate. Or if you prefer, smearing with jam and eating while still warm from the oven.

This type of roll is probably my new favorite sort of bread for dinner parties. Yes, it takes a little while to put together, but if you are at home all day, it’s so easy. There is very little hands-on time, and the payoff is just so worth it.

When you’re ready to take your new sourdough starter for a spin, I have just the recipe. Consider this beginner loaf a bridge between regular white sandwich bread and Tartine-style artisan loaves.

Here is how we bake our no-knead bread in the grill. You'll need a batch of no-knead bread or quicker no-knead bread to make this.

Whole-wheat breads are an acquired taste, in my opinion. Some people love them, some people learn to love them, and some people (like me) never quite warm up to their bitter, earthy flavors.

These are simple, enriched rolls, tarted up with butter, eggs, and sugar, which means they are never dry. They bake in a tightly packed pan for a rustic, pull-apart presentation, and I love how the slightly craggy tops get browned and toasty, while the insides stay moist and soft.

These rolls get a very mild sweetness from the mashed sweet potatoes. We think they go perfectly with all the sweet and savory foods on a holiday buffet table, plus they’re pretty great slathered with jam for breakfast the next morning! You can also substitute regular potatoes, yams, or pumpkin for the sweet potatoes.

This simple no-knead bread is studded with walnuts and raisins, and has just a hint of cinnamon. We could have this for breakfast or we could just as easily serve it alongside a hearty meal.