What Bread Should I Make

A bread to bake next, with what goes into it and, for most, where it comes from.

What Bread Should I Make

All 116
  1. FocacciaItaly. A flat, leavened, oven-baked bread, often dotted with a knife to stop bubbles.

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How it works

What bread should I make this weekend? Draw one from 116: 39 loaves and rolls, 30 flatbreads, 21 sweet and enriched breads, 14 sourdough and rye breads, and 12 quick breads and soda breads.

Read the full guide

No yeast in the cupboard

Soda bread rises on baking soda: the lactic acid in the buttermilk reacts with it to form bubbles of carbon dioxide. Biscuits and scones use baking powder. Chapati, roti, tortillas and matzah are unleavened flatbreads.

Four ingredients or several days

A baguette is only flour, water, yeast and salt, and matzah is flour and water. At the other end, panettone takes days to make.

  • Baking for a holiday? Vánočka is the Christmas loaf of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and česnica hides a coin in the dough for luck.

Questions and answers

What type of bread should I make first?

Try soda bread. Its basic ingredients are flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk, and a quick bread asks for none of the time and kneading that a yeast loaf does.

What is the difference between sourdough and yeast bread?

Sourdough is raised by a starter of naturally occurring yeast and lactobacillus bacteria over a long fermentation, and the lactic acid gives it a mildly sour taste. Other yeast breads are made more quickly, with cultivated yeast.

What makes a bagel different from other bread?

The boil. A bagel is yeasted wheat dough shaped by hand into a ring, boiled briefly in water and then baked, which gives it a dense, chewy inside and a browned outside.

What sweet bread should I make?

Brioche is rich in butter and egg. Challah, babka and zopf are braided, banana bread is a moist quick bread made with mashed bananas, and melonpan is a sweet bun under a thin layer of crisp cookie dough.

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All 116 breads

Loaves and rolls 39

  • Anadama bread New England. A sweet yeast bread made with cornmeal and molasses.
  • Bagel A ring of yeasted wheat dough, boiled briefly and then baked, dense and chewy inside.
  • Baguette France. A long, thin yeast loaf of flour, water, yeast and salt, slit on top before baking.
  • Bánh mì Vietnam. A baguette with a thin crust and a white, airy crumb, sometimes with rice flour.
  • Bialy Poland. Like a bagel, but with a dimple in place of the hole, filled with diced onion or garlic.
  • Blaa Ireland. A doughy white bun, particularly associated with Waterford.
  • Bolillo Mexico. A short take on the baguette with a crunchy crust and a soft inside.
  • Boule France. A yeast bread. The name is from the French for ball.
  • Bread roll Europe. A short, oblong or round bun, usually served before or with a meal, often with butter.
  • Breadstick Italy. A dry bread formed into sticks and served as an appetizer.
  • Broa Portugal. Cornmeal mixed with wheat or rye flour and raised with yeast, not baking powder.
  • Ciabatta Italy. A broad, flattish white loaf with large holes, made from a very wet dough.
  • Cottage loaf England. A yeast loaf made of a larger and a smaller ball of dough squashed together.
  • Crumpet United Kingdom. A small griddle bread made from a batter of water or milk, flour and yeast.
  • Cuban bread Florida and Cuba. A fairly simple white yeast bread, similar to French and Italian bread.
  • English muffin England. A small, round, flat yeast bread, served split, toasted and buttered.
  • Focaccia Italy. A flat, leavened, oven-baked bread, often dotted with a knife to stop bubbles.
  • Fougasse France. A yeast bread, sometimes slashed into a pattern like an ear of wheat.
  • Hard dough bread Jamaica. A yeast bread that is a common sandwich loaf.
  • Hoagie roll United States. A long sandwich roll of flour, egg, milk, oil, salt, sugar and yeast.
  • Lye roll Germany. Yeast rolls dipped in lye before baking. Baking soda may be used in its place.
  • Marraqueta Chile. A lobed loaf of flour, salt, water and leavening.
  • Michetta Italy. A leavened roll with a hollow, bulging shape, also known as rosetta.
  • Milk roll United Kingdom. A soft white bread made with milk, sometimes baked in a round tin.
  • Montreal-style bagel Canada. A smaller, denser bagel boiled in honey-sweetened water and baked in a wood-fired oven.
  • Pain de mie France. A slightly sweet sandwich loaf with a dense crumb, made with yeast.
  • Palianytsia Ukraine. A yeast loaf with a cut across the top, traditionally baked in a hearth.
  • Pandesal Philippines. A rounded roll of flour, eggs, yeast, sugar and salt.
  • Pane di Altamura Italy. A leavened bread made from durum flour, often odd in shape.
  • Potato bread Potato replaces part of the usual wheat flour. It may be leavened or unleavened.
  • Pretzel Germany. A knot-shaped lye roll: soft or hard, sweet or salty.
  • Salt-rising bread United States. A dense wheat bread raised by a starter of water or milk with corn or potatoes.
  • Samoon Iraq. A yeast bread baked in a stone oven and served with hummus or kebab.
  • Shokupan Japan. A soft white milk bread made with a tangzhong.
  • Shotis puri Georgia. A canoe-shaped yeast bread of white flour, baked in a tandoor.
  • Tiger bread Netherlands. Rice paste painted on top dries and cracks as it bakes, into a mottled crust.
  • Vienna bread Vienna. A leavened bread from a process that used high-milled Hungarian grain and press yeast.
  • White bread Made from wheat flour with the bran and the germ milled out.
  • Whole wheat bread Made with flour from whole or almost whole wheat grains.

Quick breads and soda breads 12

  • Balep korkun Tibet. A round, flat bread of barley flour, water and baking powder, cooked in a frying pan.
  • Banana bread United States. A dense, moist, sweet quick bread made with mashed bananas.
  • Bannock Britain and Ireland. A round quick bread, baked or fried. Modern ones use baking soda or powder.
  • Biscuit United States and Canada. A light, fluffy quick bread raised with baking powder or soda.
  • Česnica Serbia. A Christmas soda bread baked with a coin in the dough for good luck.
  • Cornbread Americas. A quick bread of cornmeal, baked or fried, golden and usually moist inside.
  • Damper Australia. A wheat bread, traditionally unleavened and baked in the coals of a campfire.
  • Dumb bread Virgin Islands. No yeast: flour, water, butter, sugar, baking powder, salt and milk.
  • Proziaki Poland. A soda bread of wheat flour, eggs, salt and milk or kefir, raised with baking soda.
  • Pumpkin bread United States. A moist quick bread made with pumpkin.
  • Scone Scotland. A small quick bread of wheat, barley or oatmeal, raised with baking powder.
  • Soda bread Ireland. A quick bread raised with baking soda, not yeast.

Flatbreads 30

  • Arepa Northern South America. A round bread of ground corn dough or cooked cornmeal.
  • Bazlama Turkey. A flat, circular bread, usually eaten fresh.
  • Bing China. A flatbread like a tortilla, only much thicker, usually cooked on a griddle.
  • Bolo do caco Madeira. A circular flatbread made with sweet potatoes.
  • Chapati India and Pakistan. A round, unleavened flatbread of flour and water cooked on a griddle.
  • Farinata Italy. A flatbread made with chickpea flour and water.
  • Farl Scotland. Dough spread in a rough circle on a griddle, then cut into four pieces and cooked.
  • Flatkaka Iceland. A soft, round, thin, dark rye flatbread with a pattern from the frying pan.
  • Green onion pancake China. A savory unleavened flatbread, folded with oil and minced scallions.
  • Injera Ethiopia and Eritrea. A sour, spongy flatbread traditionally made of fermented teff flour.
  • Johnnycake United States. Cornmeal mixed with salt and hot water or milk, cooked in a skillet or oven.
  • Khachapuri Georgia. A leavened bread molded into various shapes and filled in the center with cheese.
  • Kulcha India and Pakistan. Maida flour dough with mashed potato and spices, baked until golden brown.
  • Laobing Northern China. A thick, unleavened flatbread, pan-fried, doughy and chewy.
  • Lavash Armenia and Iran. A soft, thin flatbread rolled out flat. It is flexible when fresh.
  • Lefse Norway. A soft flatbread of potato, flour and milk or cream, cooked on a griddle.
  • Matzah An unleavened flatbread of flour and water, part of the Jewish festival of Passover.
  • Msemmen North Africa. A flatbread of flour, semolina, dry yeast, melted butter, salt, sugar and water.
  • Naan Central and South Asia. A leavened flatbread, baked or fried.
  • Pane carasau Italy. A thin, crisp flatbread, baked, split into two sheets and baked again.
  • Paratha India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Unleavened whole wheat dough pan-fried with ghee or oil.
  • Piadina Italy. A thin flatbread of white flour, lard or olive oil, salt and water, cooked on a flat pan.
  • Pita Near East and Greece. A round, yeast-leavened flatbread that steam puffs up to leave a pocket.
  • Rieska Finland. An unleavened flatbread, commonly made from barley or potato.
  • Roti India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. An unleavened flatbread of stone-ground wholemeal atta flour.
  • Shaobing China. A thick, baked, layered flatbread that may have a sweet or savory filling.
  • Taftan Iran. A leavened bread with saffron and a little cardamom, baked in a clay oven.
  • Tortilla Mexico. A thin, round, unleavened flatbread of corn or wheat flour.
  • Tunnbröd Sweden. A flatbread that is soft for wraps or crisp, made of wheat, barley or rye.
  • Yufka Turkey. A thin, round, unleavened bread of wheat flour, water and salt, similar to lavash.

Sweet and enriched breads 21

  • Anpan Japan. A sweet bun, usually filled with red bean paste.
  • Babka Poland and Ukraine. A sweet, braided yeast bread, popular in the Jewish diaspora.
  • Bara brith Wales. A fruit bread with raisins, currants and candied peel. The name means speckled bread.
  • Barmbrack Ireland. A bread with sultanas and raisins, made with yeast or baking powder.
  • Brioche France. A rich yeast bread with a lot of butter and egg, made in loaves or buns.
  • Challah A braided Jewish bread of wheat flour, yeast, oil or butter and often eggs, made for Shabbat.
  • Cozonac Romania and Bulgaria. Made with milk, yeast, eggs, sugar, butter, raisins and walnuts.
  • Croissant France. A buttery, flaky crescent made with flour, water, salt, butter and yeast.
  • Dampfnudel Germany. A sweet white bread, usually dense and moist, with a white top.
  • Himbasha Eritrea and Ethiopia. A slightly sweet celebration bread flavored with ground cardamom seeds.
  • Kifli Austria. A yeast dough wedge rolled into a crescent, with an egg wash on top.
  • Limpa Scandinavia. A sweet, spiced rye bread made with yeast.
  • Melonpan Japan. A sweet bun of enriched dough under a thin layer of crisp cookie dough.
  • Pan dulce Mexico. A sweet bread, a signature treat of Mexico and other Latin American countries.
  • Pandoro Italy. A sweet yeast loaf from Verona with a star-shaped section, popular at Christmas.
  • Panettone Italy. A fluffy sweet bread with candied citrus and raisins that takes days to make.
  • Portuguese sweet bread Portugal. A round, lightly sweet loaf made with milk and sugar or honey.
  • Teacake England. A fruited sweet bun, usually served toasted and buttered.
  • Tsoureki Greece. A sweet bread formed of braided strands of dough.
  • Vánočka Czech Republic and Slovakia. A Christmas bread rich in eggs and butter, similar to brioche.
  • Zopf Switzerland. A braid of white flour, milk, egg, butter and yeast, brushed with egg yolk.

Sourdough and rye 14

  • Black bread Russia. A dark rye bread that ranges from crisp to dense and chewy.
  • Borodinsky Russia. A dark sourdough rye sweetened with molasses, flavored with coriander and caraway.
  • Brown bread Made with a good share of whole grain flour, usually rye or wheat, sometimes with molasses.
  • Coppia Ferrarese Italy. A twisted sourdough bread made with flour, lard, olive oil and malt.
  • Crisp bread Scandinavia. A very dry bread, traditionally of wholemeal rye flour, salt and water.
  • Maltese bread Malta. A sourdough from Qormi, often served with tomato paste and olive oil.
  • Miche France. A rounded loaf, often sourdough based.
  • Pão Alentejano Portugal. A crusty sourdough, traditionally baked in a wood fire.
  • Pumpernickel Germany. A very heavy, dense, slightly sweet dark bread of coarsely ground rye.
  • Rewena bread New Zealand. A round loaf raised with a potato-based sourdough culture.
  • Rugbrød Denmark. A long, brown, rectangular loaf of rye, usually on a sourdough base.
  • Rye bread Europe. Made with rye flour, usually denser, darker and stronger in flavor than wheat bread.
  • Sangak Iran. A whole wheat sourdough, rectangular or triangular, plain or topped with poppy or sesame seeds.
  • Sourdough bread Raised by a long fermentation with natural lactobacilli and yeasts. It tastes mildly sour.