13 Easy Homemade Bread Recipes – Never Buy Bread Again
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I’ve rounded up some of my favorite homemade bread recipes to help you bake a great bread for any meal.
Ditch all the nasty ingredients in store breads, save yourself some money and enjoy some really good bread!
The first section has a number of yeast bread recipes using wheat flour. The second section has bread recipes for special diets, including gluten free breads.
Enjoy fresh baked bread and like having all your “go to” recipes in one spot? Click here to get my book “Never Buy Bread Again”. Now available in spiral bound print and digital version.
Homemade Yeast Bread Recipes
Note: I use SAF-INSTANT yeast, which does not require proofing (activating the yeast in warm liquid). You can substitute bread machine yeast or active dry yeast.
To substitute active dry yeast:
Dissolve active in warm liquid before adding the rest of the ingredients, and use a little extra active dry yeast. For more on yeast substitutions, visit Yeast FAQ at The Fresh Loaf.
Use bread flour or hard wheat flour for yeast breads, unless otherwise indicated.
Our Favorite Bread Recipe – This easy homemade bread has eggs and butter for extra richness. It’s a great recipe for sandwich bread, dinner rolls or buns for burgers, brats or sloppy joes.
Easy Sourdough Bread – This simple sourdough recipe uses only four ingredients – sourdough starter, flour, water and salt. The post also includes how to create a sourdough starter.
Potato Bread using Leftover Mashed Potatoes – Give leftover mashed potatoes a second life with this light and tender sandwich bread.
If you don’t have leftover potatoes, simply cook and mash a potato or two, as needed.
Crusty French Bread – This crusty French Bread recipe is great with soups and stews, as loaves, twists or bread bowls. It’s best enjoyed fresh to preserve the crackly crust, but makes an excellent French toast if there are any leftovers.
Cheese Soup in Bread Bowls – Now we don’t have to wait for the fair or a restaurant visit to enjoy the crispy crust of a bread bowl filled with piping hot soup. It’s warm and filling – plus, it’s budget friendly.
Duncan’s Meat in a Loaf – This is one of my youngest’s favorites, bread and meat all in one. Makes a great hot sandwich option for feeding a crowd.
Betty’s Buttermilk Rye Bread This easy rye bread recipe makes a delicious loaf of bread with a tender crumb. The flavor is mild – great for sandwiches, toast, or butter and jam.
Challah Bread from Lady Lee’s Homestead. Challah is the traditional Jewish Sabbath bread, rich with eggs and oil, and a bit sweet. While commonly served as an oblong braided loaf, on Rosh Hashanah, round challah is served to symbolize eternal life.
Whole Wheat Bread – Sprouted or Soaked – If you have trouble digesting wheat, you make want to try soaking or sprouting.
Still not getting the results you’d like with homemade bread?
Check out the post, “Troubleshooting Tips to Help You Bake the Perfect Loaf of Bread“.
Gluten Free Bread Recipes
Brazilian Cheese Bread – Makes a great gluten free hamburger or sandwich bun
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Starlene from GAPS Diet Journey has a new e-book with coconut flour sandwich bread called “Beyond Grain and Dairy“.
The book contains 113 recipes that are gluten and dairy free. This recipe is also featured in her e-book, “Baking with Coconut Flour“. “Baking with Coconut Flour” includes recipes – PLUS – a step by step formula to convert standard recipes to coconut flour recipes.
I hope these beautiful breads will encourage you to do more bread baking at home. Don’t forget to Pin this post for later and share it. 🙂
If you need even more recipes, check out the Recipes page, which lists all the recipes on the website.
Originally published in 2013, last updated in 2020.
Would love to try .But when I leave this page want be able to retrieve.If posible would like more information sent to my e-mail address.
Okay what is reqired.
I’m not sure I understand the question. You can use the Print Friendly button at the bottom of the posts to print out the recipes on my site, or if you are on Pinterest you can Pin them for later.
does anyone have a recipe for English muffin bread???. It is so good & easy, but years since I have made it.
Are you talking bread with the texture of an English muffin? This is not something I’m familiar with, but I can be on the watch for one.
i watched the episode and it looked good enough….
http://www.cookscountry.com/recipes/6922-english-muffin-bread
Any pretzel bread recipes? Chris LOVES pretzel bread! I would LOVE to try the Sour Dough recipe…I love sour dough! Thanks for being on Google now Laurie! Miss you guys, your boys look soo big!!!
I haven’t tried any pretzel bread recipes, but I can look around. Saw you on Google+ and added you to my circles. 🙂
can you send me a recipe for sourdough coconut flour bread? Thank you very much.
I’m sorry, but nut flours and coconut flour will not ferment (they are too high in protein and not high enough in the sugars that feed the yeast). To the best of my knowledge, a coconut flour only sourdough bread recipe does not exist.
You could probably adapt a coconut flour blend for use with the kombucha sourdough starter recipe.
My favorite recipe is Oatmeal Bread. I use the old (1950’s) Better Homes & Garden recipe, and add a bit of mashed potatoes to make it stay fresh longer. The recipe has molasses and is sooo good.
I am looking for a good Squaw Bread recipe. I saw one once, and misplaced it or threw it away. Never was able to make it. I believe it had some rye, cornmeal, and some molasses in it. If any of your readers makes a good Squaw Bread, I’d be so happy if they’d share their recipe!
I’ve got a couple of historical cookbooks. I’ll have to look through those and see if I come up with anything.
Thanks for posting, these breads do look delicious. Cant wait trying my next batch gf batch 🙂 ThanksAgain!!
You’re welcome.
I was wondering if you could substitute vital wheat gluten for the dough enhancer? And if not, does the ginger taste come through in the bread? I was looking at your homemade version. I’ve never used dough enhancer, just VWG, so am just curious. I’d love to give your recipe a try! Looks yummy!! FYI the sprouted wheat flour we buy is by One Degree and they have a very nice line of products. We get ours through our co-op for just about $1/pound so it’s very reasonable. Thanks so much for your help!!
Judy – are you talking about the 100% whole wheat recipe? That one’s from a friend of mine, so you would need to swing by her site and ask directly, as I haven’t yet tried her recipe.
Awesome
Thank you.
I have found bread is like soup; very forgiving. With the basics of flour, liquid and leavening, you can play around. Im impatient and use more yeast to rise faster, dont rise twice, and if I use low/no gluten flours like buckwheat, rice, etc, I add gluten. I do knead it a lot though. I also like heavy breads so use teff, garbanzo, wheat and oat bran, buckwheat, rye, oat and others. This makes a heavier crust. I put them into a plastic bag while hot or warm making sure its right on the bread. Let it sit overnight to cool and the crust is still thick but not hard. I then freeze them for months depending on how many loaves I make. Heavy breads, cook slower. When bread sounds hollow when thumped, its done. Glass pans are different from metal. I line all my pans with parchment paper that I reuse over and over, and peel off while hot. Big sheet for the middle, two smaller ones for each end.
My favorite bread pans are pyrex casserole dishes. I’m not sure you can get exactly what I have; but they’re rectanglish. I think they’re 2 or 2.5 quarts or liters? It makes about a 1 1/2 to 2 pound loaf, wide enough for a good size sandwich. I have modified my recipes to make the loaves a bit larger. I also use corning glass bread pans. I like the way they hold heat after they’re out of the oven. Personal preference perhaps.
I’ve got one pyrex loaf pan and two stoneware pans now. All work pretty well.
do I need a stove to make this stuff in? Just asking…
For most of the recipes, yes, a stove is typically used, but I know people who get creative and use Dutch ovens over campfires or make fry bread.
ok…good..how does one do that??? I don’t have a stove but do have a dutch oven!
Can you tell me how to best store breads? Can I refrigerate/freeze them? How long will they last, etc… Thank you so much for adding gluten free recipes!! Great post!
Breads can be frozen. Make sure to wrap/seal them well to prevent moisture loss, or they will become dry and possibly freezer burned. I try to use frozen bread within a month or two (write the date on the package with a sharpie marker). When you want to eat the bread, allow it to come to room temperature while still wrapped, so moisture inside the packaging can be reabsorbed by the bread. (Unless, of course, there is so much moisture that the bread would become slimy. I occasionally have this happen with very moist quickbreads.)
Storing bread in the refrigerator is not recommended. Fridges tend to be more moist, and the temperature range is not good for maintaining the flavor of the bread. Fridge storage often encourages mold and off flavors.
Most of the time I store my bread in a plastic bag or container on the counter, but if you like a firm crust you can just keep it out with the cut side down on a cutting board, or wrapped in a towel. Bread boxes or bins are nice, too, but they will allow the bread to dry out more. This is good for maintaining air circulation and keeping the bread from molding, but it will get chewier. We use up fresh bread within a week or so. If I know we will not be able to finish a loaf in time, I freeze a portion of it. I often make several loaves at one time, keep one out and freeze the rest.
Don’t slice bread fresh out of the oven. It should rest for 10-15 minutes before serving, just like meat. This traps the moisture inside the bread, and allows it to completely set up and finish baking. Of course, if you’ve got a group hovering by the oven and the whole loaf is going to disappear right away, this is a moot point. 🙂 Also, don’t slice bread until you’re ready to eat it. Unsliced bread will store much better.
The Kitchn.com gives some more info on reheating and storage: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-store-reheat-bread-advice-from-a-baker-175014
lov its
Thanks for the assortment of recipes. Could you perhaps help us find a good multi-grain recipe similar to the sprouted whole wheat recipe. I know it’s important to know the right amount of each type. For instance, too much soy can be really hard, barley does something else, etc. Thanks!
Really great post! I’ve shared with my readers, and am reminded to post my peasant bread recipe on my page sometime soon…I’d forgotten about it!
Thanks again.
I absolutely enjoyed this post. I can definitely save a lot by making my own french bread instead of going to Subway.
Plus the ingredient list is a lot shorter. Have you seen what’s in Subway breads? http://www.subway.com/Nutrition/Files/usProdIngredients.pdf
For instance:
ITALIAN (WHITE) BREAD Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, barley malt, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, yeast, sugar, contains 2% or less of the following: soybean oil, wheat gluten, salt, dough conditioners (DATEM, sodium stearoyl lactylate, ascorbic acid, potassium iodate, azodicarbonamide), yeast nutrients (calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, ammonium sulfate), wheat protein isolate, yeast extract, vitamin D2, natural flavor, enzymes.
Bread doesn’t need to be so complicated.
if you read most bread ingredients most have the same ingredients as subway bread.
Amen and thank
Do you have any low carb bread recipes?
Debby – the gluten free bread options, especially those made with coconut flour and coconut butter, as likely to be much lower in carbs.
The sprouted breads also seem to be lower in carbs.
Yes, sprouted grain digests more like a vegetable.
LOVE THIS! Thanks so much for posting, I shared it with all my readers so they can enjoy it too:)
I love making bread. Thank you for these recipes. Can’t wait to try them.
Awesome! Thanks for all the GF options!
Great collection of recipes! Thanks!!!