21 Easy Yeast Bread Recipes

Baking bread is easier than you think! Even if you've never made one before, you can follow these easy, beginner recipes and quickly get the hang of how to bake an absolutely delicious loaf of bread. You'll find a variety of simple recipes here for the most popular breads, from classic white bread and whole grain loave to crusty baguettes and fluffy dinner rolls.

Bread Basics: Taking the Mystery Out of Baking Bread

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Easy Beginner's Bread

The Spruce / Cara Cormack

If you're new to bread baking, this is a great beginner bread recipe to start with. It's easy to follow and uses many ingredients that you probably already stock in your pantry. You'll wind up with a nice, soft white bread loaf that's perfect for toasting.
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Whole Wheat Bread

Marc Grimberg/The Image Bank/Getty Images

Healthy whole wheat bread makes a basic tuna or egg salad sandwich taste even more delicious. This single-loaf recipe is gently sweetened with honey to bring out the wholesome whole wheat flavor.
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Easy Potato Bread

The Spruce

Freshly-baked potato bread is an excellent use for leftover mashed potatoes. Thick and moist, it's fantastic at soaking up hearty sauces and makes a great grilled cheese sandwich bread. This beginner-friendly recipe produces two large loaves and freezes well if you want to make it ahead.
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Easy French Baguette-Style Bread

The Spruce

Add some Parisian flair to your dinner table with this easy baguette recipe. You may be surprised that you don't need any fancy ingredients or equipment to bake up a pair of long, crusty French loaves in your own kitchen—they're just like those you would get from the bakery.

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Homestyle Oatmeal Bread

The Spruce

Tender, soft sandwich bread with the nutty flavor of oats is a nostalgic family favorite. Adding a small amount of whole wheat flour to regular all-purpose flour adds appealing color and flavor to this nutritious loaf.
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Peasant Bread

The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

This simple, rustic peasant bread is easy to make because it requires no kneading. It's baked in round pans and cut into wedges to be served with any meal.
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Crusty Cranberry Walnut Bread

Diana Rattray

Fresh bread studded with walnuts and cranberries and a divinely crunchy crust is a true delight. While it requires time for rising, you don't have to knead the dough, making this a good beginner bread.
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Ciabatta Bread

The Spruce / Elaine Lemm

Ciabatta bread has a reputation for being difficult to make, but it can actually be easy when you follow these steps. This Italian bread is delicious served with good-quality olive oil, sliced tomatoes, basil, and a sprinkle of sea salt.

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Amish Milk Bread

The Spruce

Amish milk bread is a great recipe for beginners. This sweet white bread has a fantastically moist, soft texture that makes it perfect for French toast and bread puddings or your morning breakfast toast. The recipe yields two quick and easy loaves that freeze well.
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Small Batch Egg Bread Rolls

Paul Visconti/StockFood Creative/Getty Images

What's better than homemade rolls straight from the oven? Bake up half a dozen light, fluffy, buttery rolls with this easy recipe. They go great with pulled pork, meatballs, roast chicken, or soup.
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Super Easy Fougasse Bread

The Spruce

Fougasse is a delicious French flatbread with a wonderfully yeasty flavor similar to Italian focaccia. You need zero baking experience to make it for a tasty shareable appetizer. You could top it with red onions as suggested here, or simply sprinkle the dough with chopped fresh rosemary before baking.
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Beer Bread

Janet Hudson/Flickr

Beer bread is one of the easiest yeast breads you can bake. Soft, fluffy, and infused with a light beer flavor throughout, thanks to a full cup of warm beer in the batter, it makes an enjoyable bread for game day parties, or a dipping bread for chilis and hearty stews.

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English Muffin Bread

Kristina Vanni

English muffin bread is a perfect recipe for beginner bakers since it is a yeast bread that doesn't require any kneading or special equipment. It's easier to make than individual English muffins but still has the same nooks and crannies. Serve with butter or jam or as the base for an eggs benedict.
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Easy Anadama Bread

punkin3.14/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0

Anadama is a classic New England bread that's great for sandwiches and soup. This traditional recipe includes molasses and yellow cornmeal, which lends this hearty, egg-free loaf its dark, nutty, slightly sweet crumb.
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Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels

Leah Maroney

Yeasted breads don't all end up as loaves. For a fun snack or appetizer, turn dough into perfectly delicious homemade soft pretzels. These copycat Auntie Anne's pretzels are soft and yeasty with a crisp, salty exterior just like the original.
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Chocolate Cherry Bread

The Spruce/Diana Rattray

Wow your family and friends with this bakery-style chocolate cherry bread. It is easy to make by hand or with a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and the not-too-sweet yeast dough offers great balance for chopped fresh cherries and semi-sweet chocolate morsels.

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Swedish Limpa Orange-Rye Bread

The Spruce/Nita West

Orange and anise give this no-knead Swedish rye bread a wonderful, warming flavor. Fragrant with fennel, orange zest, caraway, and dark molasses, it smells fabulous while baking, and makes a comforting breakfast bread you could serve on holiday mornings.
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Easy Turmeric-Basil Rye Bread

S&C Design Studios

Turmeric-basil rye bread is so tasty for enjoying with spaghetti and meatballs, it may become your family's favorite everyday loaf. It's as easy to make as any beginner white bread recipe, with just a few, clever variations to boost its flavor and nutrition.
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Honey Wheat Bread

The Spruce Eats / Kristina Vanni

Sweet, dense honey wheat bread is a wonderful recipe for newbie bakers to try. It's as easy as any white bread—you'll just need a little patience, while the dough rises twice. The healthful recipe uses all-purpose flour along with whole wheat to create a perfect balance of grains. Honey adds sweetness and also moisture to the crumb.
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Pumpernickel Bread

The Spruce/Teena Agnel

Hearty and crusty pumpernickel bread is a cold-weather staple. Though the dough takes extra rising time, the recipe needs no more hands-on effort than a basic yeast bread and the recipe is easy to follow. It produces two large, dark loaves that you can use for making sandwiches or slicing thinly for canapes.

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Bread Machine Pumpkin Yeast Bread

Diana Rattray

Savory, colorful pumpkin bread is a delicious autumn treat. It is easy to make in the bread machine with canned pumpkin puree and a few basic baking ingredients. Enjoy it for breakfast, toasted and topped with cream cheese or marmalade.