Looking for a simple and delicious sandwich bread recipe? Alex and I decided we were ready to stop buying that store-bought stuff (which honestly doesn’t taste that great) and start making sandwich bread on the regular. So Alex came up with this recipe that ticks all the boxes—it’s easy to make, uses simple ingredients, and comes out with a moist texture and irresistible flavor.
When we posted the recipe on Instagram, so many people were excited about the recipe and have been sending us photos of their recipes with rave reviews. So it’s not just us: we know it’s a winner! Here’s our tutorial for how to make homemade sandwich bread.
“It’s so yummy! The whole family thinks so! Perfectly fluffy and delicious! Definitely going to make this often to break up having to buy at the store.” -Amanda
“The bread turned out fabulous. I sliced it down and will freeze!” -Mary
“Ok this bread is so so so good. It holds itself wonderfully when cutting into it. And it’s got the best slightly sweet taste. 10/10 from everyone!” -Tanvee
Before we start a recipe, we like to know how much time is involved. Here’s the basic outline of the tasks for this sandwich bread recipe. The process takes 20 to 30 minutes of hands on time, and about 3 hours total (plus 90 minutes to cool). Here’s an outline of what you’ll have to do:
Mix and shape into a boule | 15 minutes |
Proof 1 | 1 hour (hands off) |
Shape into loaf | 5 minutes |
Proof 2 | 1 hour (hands off) |
Bake | 35 minutes, hands off |
Cool | 90 minutes, hands off |
Making sandwich bread requires only a few tools and ingredients you probably already have on hand! It’s so simple to whip up. Here’s what you’ll need:
Shaping the loaf for sandwich bread is simple, but it’s easiest to explain through photos and videos. Make a rectangle shape that matches the width of the pan, then roll it up. You can also watch the video below to see it in action.
We love making homemade sandwich bread because it tastes so much better than purchased bread—and because it has less additives and preservatives. Because it is homemade, we consider it a healthy choice that is part of the Mediterranean diet.
Storing sandwich bread is different from store-bought bread, since it has no preservatives. It’s also different from crusty artisan bread (like sourdough or olive bread), where you want to maintain a crispy crust. For sandwich bread, here’s how to keep it moist and supple:
This sandwich bread recipe is vegetarian. For a vegan sandwich bread, use vegan butter, oat milk, and maple syrup. It’s not quite the same as the dairy-based version but still very delicious.
If you love this sandwich bread, we also recommend trying our olive bread, focaccia bread, and no knead bread recipes. For a more advanced recipe, you can also try this sourdough bread recipe.
This sandwich bread recipe is so simple, moist and delicious, you’ll want to make on repeat! It’s easy to make at home with no special equipment, and works for sandwiches, toast, and more. It’s so moist and irresistible, it’s quickly become a reader favorite recipe.
For a vegan sandwich bread, use vegan butter, oat milk, and maple syrup. It’s not quite the same as the dairy-based version but still very delicious.
The bread becomes slightly drier towards the end of the storage time, so you may want to lightly toast it on days 4 to 5.
As two professional recipe developers and cookbook authors, Alex and I always urge home cooks to learn one skill: homemade bread! There’s really nothing like pulling a golden brown loaf from the oven (the aroma in your kitchen alone is worth it!).
Here’s a bread recipe that we are head over heels for: this no knead olive bread recipe! It’s inspired by our trip to France this summer, but you can easily whip it up at home using this recipe. Every time we make this for family, everyone keeps exclaiming how good it is! Here’s everything you need to know about making olive bread at home.
“I just finished baking this bread and it was very good! I used the green olives and you could taste the olives but they were not overpowerful. It was delicious and I will bake it again!” -Mary
“I was very excited to see an easy recipe that’s manageable for even someone without a lot of bread making experience. The bread turned out amazing, everyone loved it and it was eaten without any crumbs left!” -Milena
Here’s the basic outline of the tasks for this olive bread recipe. The process takes 5 minutes the night before, and then about 2 hours the day of. While you do need to think ahead for the rest, this bread recipe is so much easier than our sourdough bread and or artisan bread recipe. In fact, it’s the quickest and easiest bread method we have. Here’s an outline of what you’ll have to do:
Mix, Rest overnight | 5 minutes active, 12 to 18 hours hands off |
Shape & proof | 5 minutes active, 1 hour hands off |
Bake | 45 minutes, hands off |
Cool | 45 minutes, hands off |
Making no knead bread requires a few tools. It’s easiest to make with a Dutch oven, but you can also use a pizza stone. There are several optional tools as well that make things easier, but are not required. Here’s what you need!
A Dutch oven is a heavy cooking pot with a lid used for braising meat and making soups and stews. You can use it on the stovetop or in the oven. All Dutch ovens are made of cast iron; some have an enamel coating that makes them easier to clean.
The Dutch oven that we use for bread is Lodge 6 Quart Cast Iron Dutch oven. Since it holds in the steam, it makes for the best crispy crust while baking. You can also use a Dutch oven for making soups, stews and more: go to our top Dutch oven recipes.
As an alternative, you can a pizza stone to bake this no knead bread! You’ll also have to create extra steam in your oven using a baking sheet and pouring boiling water onto it when you add the bread. This creates steam, which makes that crispy crust. Here’s the pizza stone we recommend. (Of course, you can also use it for our popular pizza dough recipe and all our pizza recipes!)
For this olive bread recipe, we use a mixture of all-purpose flour (for texture) and bread flour (for strength). We find that this mix makes a moderately open crumb (those beautiful holes in the interior), a chewy crust, and tangy flavor.
Personally, we use King Arthur brand organic flour. In testing many different flours, we find it has the best and most consistent results for homemade bread recipes.
You can use any olives you like in this recipe: including green, black or purple olives. We like Castelvetrano olives: they’re a green olive variety grown in Sicily with a mild and fruity flavor that doesn’t overpower the bread. But you can use any type you like: Kalamata olives, black or green olives, etc.
This olive bread recipe requires thinking ahead 1 day: you’ll need to rest the bread dough overnight. If you’re like us, you might have trouble with thinking ahead and wonder if you can skip this step. Unfortunately, it’s essential to this recipe! Here’s why:
The main part of making olive bread that requires technique is shaping the dough. You’ll shape it into a ball, called a boule. It’s easiest to learn how to shape the dough by watching. Here’s a video instruction for shaping the boule.
The lines on top of a beautiful loaf of bread are called score lines. Scoring is slashing the top of the dough with a sharp knife to allow it to expand when baking. Here are a few tips for scoring no knead bread:
Storing homemade bread is different from store-bought, since it has no preservatives. There’s also an important thing to keep in mind:
Once your olive bread is out of the oven, it tastes incredible slathered with butter. It’s the perfect stunning appetizer recipe with a cheese board or antipasto platter, served with a compound butter or garlic herb butter. You could also make it into a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich, or serve it with soup like kale white bean soup, bean soup, or tomato soup.
This olive bread recipe is vegetarian, vegan, and plant-based.
This no knead olive bread recipe tastes like it’s from a professional bakery but it’s so easy to make at home! It has a deliciously crispy crust, soft and chewy interior, and developed, savory flavor. Everyone will be singing its praises (every time we make it, our family can’t stop eating it).
If we’re ranking cookie recipes, this one just might be at the top of our favorites list: soft and chewy ginger molasses cookies! There’s something about this type of cookie Alex and I can’t resist, and it’s become a fast favorite in our family (especially as a Christmas cookie).
This recipe makes soft and chewy cookies with a sugar-crisp exterior and cozy, bold spices and a hint of earthy molasses. Each one is fractured into picture-perfect crinkles, and when you sink in your teeth for the first bite, it’s like being enveloped in a warm hug. OK, enough talking: let’s get to the recipe!
These ginger molasses cookies were one of the first recipes we created for this website a decade ago, and we’ve revamped this recipe so it’s even more perfect! The texture comes out pillowy soft and chewy (not cakey), coated in sugar on the outside for a textural crunch. Molasses lends a deep complexity in flavor and cements that signature chewy texture. The spices are similar to those in gingerbread: cinnamon, ginger, allspice and cloves, but the texture is lusciously chewy! Here’s what you’ll need for ginger molasses cookies:
It’s challenging to get cookies that look perfectly identical, and ginger molasses cookies are no different. Here are a few tips for upping your baking game:
What’s the best way to store molasses cookies? Line a storage container with paper towels and store the cookies at room temperature. The paper towels help to preserve the moisture, keeping the cookies soft over the storage time. You can also freeze the cookies! Here’s what to know about cookie storage:
Ginger molasses cookies are some of our favorite cookies because they’re very versatile! Add them to a Christmas cookie platter, or make them as a fall dessert for the beautiful cozy spices. They even work in the summer as a deliciously soft cookie for cookouts and parties. Anything goes here!
This ginger molasses cookies recipe is vegetarian.
This ginger molasses cookies recipe makes soft and chewy cookies with warming, cozy spices and picture-perfect crinkles. Everyone loves this popular cookie: it’s a family favorite!
Note: Make sure to set out your butter at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour before making this recipe.
Love a great cookie? Here are a few more tasty cookie recipes we can’t resist: and we hope you won’t be able to either!
Are you a thumbprint fan? Alex and I have got a fresh spin on the classic that’s so delicious! These almond thumbprint cookies are made with almond flour, homemade berry jam, and sweetened with maple syrup.
If you’d like, add a powdered sugar glaze, which takes them from good to amazing! With just the right chewy texture from the almond flour, these cookies are a healthy spin on the traditional but taste even better.
The highlight of these almond thumbprint cookies is the homemade jam. The flavor is incredible and it tastes like pure berry. You could substitute a store-bought jam, but we recommend making the homemade for the perfect sweetness and berry flavor. It takes only 15 minutes to whip up, and for easy prep you can make it in advance.
Frozen berries work well for making homemade jam: though you could use fresh if you have them! Any variety of frozen berries work, but these cookies work best with mixed berries or raspberries. Using raspberries would give them an even brighter red color, perfect for the holidays and Christmas cookie trays.
What makes for the best almond thumbprint cookies? Almond flour! Almond flour is finely ground blanched almonds: it’s often used as an alternative flour in gluten free baking. (Here are all our almond flour recipes: it’s perfect in cookies and cakes!) Be careful not to confuse it with almond meal, which is a coarser grind and contains the almond peels.
Almond flour makes for the perfectly-textured almond thumbprint cookie. It results in a chewy cookie texture, versus a crumbly shortbread. This recipe does not include almond extract so it doesn’t have an almond flavor: it’s simply made with almonds.
In these almond thumbprint cookies, we’ve used 2 cups almond flour and 1 cup all purpose flour. Using the mixture that includes all purpose flour makes for the perfect texture. Using 100% almond flour can result in a very dense, crumbly cookie.
If you’d like to make these gluten free, use your favorite 1 for 1 gluten free flour in place of the all-purpose flour. We wouldn’t recommend doing all almond flour.
For vegan, just substitute coconut oil or vegan butter for the butter. The texture is such that they’ll work the same way!
To take these easy almond thumbprint cookies over the top, we’ve used our favorite trick: powdered sugar icing! I grew up eating a cookie called Swedish raspberry cookies that was iced in a similar way. Once we added the icing on top, we knew we had a hit.
We made these cookies with Alex’s mother in law. I mixed up the icing and was back in 1 minute ready to drizzle it on. “Wait, you already made it?” she exclaimed. She was excited about how easy this icing was to make! All you have to do is:
And that’s it, the very best almond thumbprint cookies! Let us know if you try them out in the comments below. We usually make them as a Christmas dessert or for holiday cookie swaps, but they work any time of the year.
This almond thumbprint cookies recipe is vegetarian. For gluten free, substitute 1-for-1 gluten-free flour for the all-purpose flour. For vegan, use vegan butter.
These are the tastiest almond thumbprint cookies: perfectly chewy, made with almond flour and featuring a homemade jam and easy icing drizzle!
For the jam filling
For the almond cookies
For the glaze (you’ll use about ¾ of this)
If you’re looking for more cookie recipes, here are some of our favorites:
Want to bake without eggs? Alex and I love creating recipes for special diets like dairy-free and vegan: our son recently went dairy-free and we eat vegan recipes on the regular. So we created these cookies to be as a super versatile recipe, whether you need to avoid eggs or just don’t have them.
Turns out, these eggless chocolate chip cookies are so chewy and delicious, you’ll never miss the egg! They’re a spin on our popular vegan chocolate chip cookies and they are so tasty, everyone raves about them. They’re packed with sweet flavor and have a generous sprinkle of rich chocolaty chips. They’ve become a favorite in our house!
“Just whipped up these eggless cookies and I have one word: AMAZING. I love using applesauce in baking, it adds this really nice texture to cookies. The dough to chocolate chip ratio here is 2 thumbs up, chocolate pooling when you break a cookie in half? Win!” -Tanvee
Just how do you make cookies without eggs? Egg is a crucial ingredient in most baked goods: it works as a binder to hold the texture together, and it also adds a richness in flavor. We tested this recipe over and over to get just the right texture and flavor: without that magic ingredient! Here are some key ingredients for eggless chocolate chip cookies:
All purpose flour, baking soda, salt and dark chocolate chips round out the list of ingredients!
Many cookie recipes require the dough to chill, but these eggless chocolate chip cookies require no chilling at all! Because who wants to wait to make chocolate chip cookies? Not us. Here are a few tips for pulling these cookies together:
These eggless chocolate chip cookies are great warm after about 20 minutes of cooling, but they also hold up well over time. Here’s what to note about storage:
These eggless chocolate chip cookies are vegetarian. For dairy-free and vegan, use vegan butter.
Want more recipes without egg? Try our pancakes without eggs, which use peanut butter as a substitute!
PrintCookies without eggs? These eggless chocolate chip cookies are so chewy and full of flavor, no one will miss this ingredient! This recipe is perfect for special diets or if you simply don’t have eggs on hand.
When it comes to Christmas cookies, here’s one type we can’t resist: Linzer cookies! This classic Austrian sandwich cookie stars a buttery almond shortbread with fun cutout window that shows a layer of fruity preserves.
Alex and I both grew up eating Linzer cookies at the holidays, so this classic cookie spells childhood nostalgia for us! Here we’re sharing a traditional recipe from my dear childhood friend who is Austrian herself (and some recommendations for Linzer cookie cutters!).
Linzer cookies are a shortbread jam-filled sandwich cookie based on the Austrian dessert Linzer torte, a tart made with ground nuts and fruit preserves. The cookie brings in those signature flavors with a shortbread made with almond flour, giving it a complex, nutty flavor. This recipe comes from my dear Austrian friend Milena’s mother: Milena currently lives in Vienna, but we grew up together in Minnesota eating Linzer cookies at the holidays. Here’s what you’ll need for classic Linzer cookies:
Linzer cookies are a cutout cookie with a twist! Instead of cutting out just one cookie, you’ll need two: a cookie that makes a window and a solid cookie. There are special cookie cutters just for this purpose, but you can also use a alternative based on what you have at home.
Linzer cookies are a fun baking project that results in visually-stunning, sugar dusted cookies with bright shapes of jam. There are a few notes for how to put together this recipe:
Once you’ve made your linzer cookies, you probably won’t be eating all 30 at once. How to store them? Here are some tips and notes about storage:
This Linzer cookies recipe is vegetarian. For dairy-free, use vegan butter.
These traditional Austrian Linzer cookies are delicious almond cutout cookies with a jam filling! Everyone loves them and they’re perfect for special occasions. A family favorite!
*With room temperature storage, the powdered sugar can start to melt on the cookies that are stacked in layers beneath other cookies. We recommend storing them refrigerated for longer term storage.
Love a good batch of cookies? Here are a few more fun cookie recipes to enjoy:
Here’s a fan favorite recipe that we make on the regular: healthy banana muffins with oatmeal! Years ago a reader asked us, “Could you create more healthy muffin recipes?” We took her challenge and created these blender muffins that were easy to make, healthy, and irresistibly good.
All you have to do is toss ripe bananas, rolled oats, and a few other ingredients into a blender (there’s no flour). Bake them up and they come out fluffy and delicious every time! When we have a bunch of ripe bananas, we make this recipe—by now, we’ve made it more times than we can count. It’s now a fan favorite recipe with loads of positive reader reviews!
“These are one of our go-to muffin recipes! I’ve shared the recipe with so many people! I love that I can “casually” measure the ingredients and they always turn out.” -Rachel
“I make these muffins at least once a month when I have ripe bananas that need to be used. I love them!! SO easy to freeze as well.” -Allegra
These muffins are truly the perfect use for those bananas blackening on your countertop! We make these often for our kid’s school lunches and snacks (plus, we love them too!). There are loads of recipes all over the internet, but here’s why you should add this healthy banana muffins recipe to your arsenal:
We make these healthy banana muffins all the time and our kids gobbles them up! Several of our family and friends do the same. We love serving them since it’s basically like eating oatmeal and a banana, with a few added seasonings. Here’s how to make banana muffins, our way (or jump to the recipe below):
A few notes: this recipe is very forgiving! We’ve found that it even works with 2 ripe bananas. It’s not too touchy and it’s hard to mess up. Just make sure that you blend everything as much as possible since you’ll be grinding the oats into oat flour in the process. It’s the perfect go-to healthy snack or breakfast!
There are lots of ways to mix up these healthy banana muffins with oatmeal! Here are a few ideas:
These healthy banana muffins store well. Place them in the refrigerator and store for up to 10 days. They’re best at room temperature, so allow them to fit for a few minutes before eating.
These muffins also freeze well: place them in a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Take out a few and pop them into the fridge for use in lunches throughout the week.
This healthy banana muffins recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free. For vegan and plant-based, substitute 2 flax eggs for the eggs.
This healthy banana muffins recipe with oatmeal is incredibly easy to make in a blender with oats, bananas, and a few other simple ingredients! It’s the best use for ripe bananas as a healthy breakfast or snack.
*Note: The amount of muffins can depend on the size of the bananas and the type of oats, and it’s a forgiving recipe (it even works with 2 large bananas). With large bananas and rolled oats, we typically get 9 muffins. We’ve had readers get 10 or even up to 12. The 30 minute bake time typically works for any amount of muffins, but you may want to check them at 25 minutes if you’re baking 10 to 12 muffins.
**If you’d like, add ½ teaspoon allspice to add even more flavor to this muffin. You can also add ½ ground ginger or ¼ teaspoon cloves for a bigger spice kick.
Over the years, we’ve found readers love the healthy banana blender muffin concept. So of course we had to create a few variations on this recipe! Here are a few different flavors using the same blender muffin idea with rolled oats:
Making homemade sourdough bread is one of the most satisfying, transformative things you can do. It’s tastier, healthier, and cheaper than any bread you’ll buy at the store.
As two cookbook authors with previous careers in business writing, Alex and I are passionate about making complex processes simple. So we created this Simplified Guide for Sourdough Bread! It has easy to understand steps, a video, and a printable checklist to make sure you’re able to master the process. Ready to get started?
In this video, Alex shows you everything you need to know about making this sourdough bread recipe! So much of bread making is learning by watching, so this video is crucial to understanding how to make sourdough bread.
This sourdough bread recipe is years in the making. For the past 2 years, Alex and I have been making sourdough bread every week. In that time, we’ve learned that making sourdough bread is an involved process. But we’re also passionate making cooking pretty simple.
We wanted to simplify the process, so set out to make our best sourdough bread recipe: which to us is the most repeatable, easiest to follow recipe with bakery style results. We developed this original recipe after extensive research using the Tartine cookbook and The Perfect Loaf. And we’re happy to say: it turned out brilliantly.
It’s got a chewy crust, tangy flavor, and just enough holes in the bread to be interesting but still hold up to a slather of peanut butter. Our sourdough bread recipe is the perfect everyday bread for snacking, sandwiches, and serving with soup.
Making sourdough bread is a process that spans across 3 days. Here’s an outline of the tasks and approximate active time for how to make sourdough bread:
Day 1 Evening | Feed the starter (5 minutes active time) |
Day 2 | Make bread and proof overnight (5 hours active time) |
Day 3 | Bake (1 hour active time) |
Our instructions are thoughtfully crafted to be easy to follow—and even memorize! The traditional method of cooking the bread using steam can be hard to create at home, so our recipe uses a Dutch oven. Best of all, we’ve created a custom video series and printable checklist so that you don’t miss a step. The hardest part is waiting for the bread to cool!
Not sure you’re ready? Start with this artisan Dutch oven bread recipe instead.
Making sourdough bread requires some special equipment to get the job done. Here’s a list of the required tools. We’ve linked to the exact tools that we use.
You can make sourdough bread with many different types of flour. For our sourdough bread recipe, we use a mixture of all-purpose flour (for texture), bread flour (for strength), and whole wheat flour (for flavor). We find that this mix makes a moderately open crumb—those beautiful holes in sourdough, a chewy crust, and tangy flavor.
Personally, we use King Arthur brand organic flour for all three of the flours. In testing many different flours, we find it has the best and most consistent results for our sourdough bread recipe. (Some other flour brands made for a denser bread.)
Before we start, let’s talk about proofing. Proofing is when you let bread dough rest after you’ve added yeast so that it rises. In this recipe, there are multiple steps that involve proofing, some at room temperature and some in a warm area. For best results, your sourdough bread proofing temperature should be between 80°F and 90°F.
The recipe below calls for setting up a warm proofing area where the bread can sit at this temperature. If you have it, use the proofing setting on your oven for this step. Or, you can turn on the oven to preheat for about 1 minute and then turn it off before you place the dough in the oven. You can also pour a few cups of boiling water into the oven beneath your bowl to raise the temperature.
Whatever the case, while the bread is proofing, be careful not to accidentally turn on the oven for any other reason. We’ve had this happen before, and it’s not pretty!
For the final proofing stage in our sourdough bread recipe, the bread proofs in a basket called a banneton. The banneton helps to shape the bread and also makes for those lovely decorative lines on the top of the bread.
To ensure the bread doesn’t stick to the banneton, the inside is coated with a mix of ½ cup all purpose flour and ½ cup rice flour, a tip we learned from the Tartine cookbook. We keep a container full of this mix on hand for baking days.
When it’s not in use, you can store the banneton at room temperature. There’s no need to clean the banneton; simply let it dry out after baking. After every few bakes, we scrape out any excess flour with a spoon so that you can still get those nice decorative lines in the top of the dough.
Sourdough bread is a naturally leavened bread, meaning that instead of using active dry yeast to rise, it uses a sourdough starter. The first step in our sourdough bread recipe is to feed the sourdough starter. The night before you decide to make bread, feed the sourdough starter following the instructions in the recipe below.
Learning how to care for your sourdough starter is an important part of any sourdough bread recipe. To learn more, see How to Feed Sourdough Starter (it includes a helpful video).
If you don’t have a sourdough starter yet, you can learn how to make sourdough starter at home. See How to Make Sourdough Starter—out of thin air! You can also buy a sourdough starter online: here’s a live sourdough starter.
If you’ve read up on sourdough bread, you may have heard of the terms “baker’s percentage” or “hydration level”. These terms refer to the amount of water in the recipe, as compared to the amount of flour.
This sourdough bread recipe is a high hydration bread. The baker’s percentage for this bread is 78% hydration (350 grams of water / 450 grams of flour).
Equally as important as making sourdough bread is learning how to store it! Once you’ve baked your homemade bread, it is best eaten within 48 hours.
We store ours wrapped in cloth at room temperature. You can use a clean dish towel; or, made a special bread bag for storage out of a large napkin. Do not store it in plastic, or it becomes soggy.
If you don’t think you’ll eat the entire loaf in 48 hours, you can freeze whatever you don’t think you’ll eat! Let the sourdough bread cool fully to room temperature, then cut it into slices and place it into a sealed bag or container.
As we’ve honed this recipe through the years, we found that the hardest part of making sourdough bread was keeping track of which step we were on! To solve that problem, we created a printable checklist so that you don’t miss a beat.
Filling in the circles also adds satisfaction to each step! You can reuse the checklist five times—after that, print a new checklist and you’re good to go.
Printable checklist: Download our Sourdough Bread Checklist.
This post is one of three in our series on how to make sourdough at home:
We created this recipe to have a medium-sized crumb. To get holes in the bread like you see in our picture, make sure you are very gently during the folding and shaping steps so that you don’t press out the air.
If you are using a different brand of flour (we use King Arthur) then you may need to increase the bread flour a little bit! Otherwise, just keep practicing your folding technique so that the dough can build strength.
We like this How to Troubleshoot Bad Bread chart from Serious Eats to determine whether your bread was over-proofed or under-proofed. Over-proofed bread has a more dense crumb, while under-proofed bread will have large holes around the edges
Yes! We prefer the oval shape for slicing, but any banneton will work!
Yes, we recommend trying our timing once and seeing how your dough behaves. After that, you can try adjusting the timing to fit your lifestyle.
This sourdough bread recipe is the ultimate guide to making your own sourdough bread! You’ll be amazed by the tangy flavor, beautiful chewy crust, and perfect texture. And don’t forget the printable checklist! Also, see our FAQ if you are having any problems.
On Day 1, you’ll feed your sourdough starter the night before you prepare the dough.
Feed the starter: Remove the active starter from the refrigerator around 9:00 pm. Discard all but 1 tablespoon of the starter. Add 50 grams of purified water and 50 grams of all purpose flour. Stir, cover, and leave at room temperature overnight. The starter should be bubbly and about doubled in size between 9:00 am and 11:00 am the following day. (More about feeding your starter is at How to Feed Sourdough Starter.)
Print the printable checklist: Print off our Sourdough Bread Checklist to use when preparing the dough tomorrow!
On Day 2, you’ll make and proof the dough. This is the most labor intensive day; the entire process will take around 5 hours. The step numbers correspond to the printable checklist; make sure you have it printed and ready to go!
1 Mix flour and water; rest for 1 hour at room temp (“autolyse”): In a small mixing bowl, combine the all purpose flour, bread flour and whole wheat flour with the purified water. Use a spoon or dough whisk to stir until all dry flour has been incorporated into a raggy dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or place the bowl in a large Ziploc bag and place leave room temperature. Set a timer for 1 hour.
2a Prepare the proofing area: Prepare a warm area for proofing before starting next step. For best results, the proofing should be in a warm location, between 80° and 90° degrees. (For more on creating a proofing area, see the section above, “Proofing sourdough bread.”)
2b Stir in the starter and proof for 30 minutes: Add the starter to the dough and stir until loosely incorporated; it does not need to be perfectly stirred in. Cover the bowl and place it in the warm area for proofing. Set a timer for 30 minutes. Watch the video instructions for about folding for the next few steps.
3 Add salt, mix with your hands, and proof for 30 minutes: Add the kosher salt evenly across the dough and mix the dough with your hands until the salt is incorporated. See the video above to watch how to mix the dough. Return the covered dough to the proofing area and set timer for 30 minutes.
4 Fold and proof for 30 minutes: Fold the dough: with wet hands, lift one side of the dough straight up so that it stretches and fold it across the center; turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat 4 times. Lift up the dough and wrap it onto itself until you have a smooth surface, then flip it over and place it in the bowl seam side down. See the video above to watch how to fold the dough. Return the covered dough to the proofing area and set timer for 30 minutes.
5 Fold and proof for 45 minutes: Fold the dough again in the same way as Step 4, wrapping it as much as possible without tearing the dough. Return the covered dough to a warm area and set a timer for 45 minutes.
6 Gently fold and proof for 1 hour 30 minutes: Gently fold the dough in the same way as Step 4, being careful not to deflate built up air in the dough. Return the covered dough to a warm area and set timer for 1 hour 30 minutes. Before you start Step 7, watch the video for instructions on pre-shaping and shaping the dough.
7 Pre-shape the dough and rest for 30 minutes at room temp: At this point the dough should appear bubbly on top and wiggle when shaken. (If it is not ready, proof for a few more minutes; the timing can vary depending on the temperature of your proofing and variations in the starter.) Turn the dough onto an unfloured countertop. Lightly flour the top of the dough and then use a bench scraper to gently scrape the dough into a ball, creating tension on top. Do not go so far that you tear the dough. Place an inverted bowl over the top of the dough. Set a timer and rest the dough for 30 minutes.
8 Shape the dough, place it in the banneton, and rest for 30 minutes at room temp: Prepare the banneton by rubbing the 50/50 rice flour mixture into all of the grooves of the banneton. Remove the bowl from over the dough; the dough should be formed into a gently rounded shape. Rub just enough flour onto the top of the dough so that it isn’t tacky. Use the bench scraper to flip the dough so that the floured side is down. Gently stretch the dough into a rectangle. Moving quickly, fold the top third of the dough down, and the bottom third up to create a packet. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and gently roll it into a log shape. Be careful to not press the dough or deflate it. Use your hands to gently pull the dough tight and pinch off the seams at the end of the dough. Rub a little more flour onto the top of the dough so that it isn’t tacky. Gently flip the dough into the banneton and pinch off the bottom seam. Place the banneton into the proofing bag and set timer for 30 minutes.
9 Refrigerate overnight: Place the banneton in a bag and refrigerate until the following morning.
10 Preheat the Dutch oven at 515°F for 30 minutes: The following morning, place a covered Dutch oven on the center rack in your oven. Preheat to 515°F for at least 30 minutes. If your oven only reaches to 500°F, the recipe will still work, but you won’t get quite as much rise out of the bread.
11 Place on parchment, score, and bake for 17 minutes in Dutch oven:
12 Place the bread on the oven rack, reduce to 400°F and bake for 23 minutes: After 17 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 400°F. Remove the Dutch oven, carefully take out the bread, and set the bread directly onto the oven rack. Bake for an additional 23 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool on a cooling rack for at least 45 minutes. After cooling, the bread is ready to eat. Store the bread wrapped in cloth or in a bread bag on the counter for up to 2 days, or freeze wrapped in foil in a plastic bag for several months.
Ready for your next fall baking project? We’ve got three words for you: pumpkin banana muffins! Alex and I are all about cooking with friends and family (we even wrote a book about it). For this season, we created this muffins recipe for doing just that. Though of course, you can bake them solo too.
These muffins come out beautifully moist from both pumpkin and banana, infused with cozy pumpkin spices. They’re just sweet enough and topped with crunchy sugar. Our family can’t get enough of these—and we promise everyone who tastes them will beg for the recipe!
Turns out, pumpkin and banana go hand in hand in these pumpkin banana muffins! The banana adds a nice natural sweetness and additional moisture. Here are a few notes on ingredients:
There are so many ways to dress up pumpkin banana muffins. We almost made them with our favorite maple glaze, but wanted to keep them basic and let you add your desired mix-ins or toppings. Here are a few other ideas:
These pumpkin banana muffins store well. They last 4 days at room temperature in a sealed container, refrigerated for 10 days, or frozen for up to 3 months.
These pumpkin banana muffins are vegetarian. For vegan, substitute flax eggs.
These pumpkin banana muffins are so moist and flavorful, you’ll be making them on repeat! Infused with pumpkin spices and topped with crunchy sugar, they’re easy to whip up as a baking project with friends or family.
Mix-in ideas: Add ½ to ¾ cup dark chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, or chopped pecans into the batter before baking.
Streusel topping variation: Combine ¼ cup rolled oats, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, ¼ cup turbinado sugar and ¼ cup salted butter cut into pieces. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter or fork until a crumbly streusel forms. Sprinkle on top before baking.
Glaze topping variation: Make 1 recipe of this Maple Glaze and drizzle it over the muffins with a fork. Or, use the Salted Caramel Glaze from this Brown Butter Banana Bread recipe.
Every fall we make it our goal to make all the pumpkin recipes! Here are a few favorites:
What’s the best pumpkin dessert? For some people it’s pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread, but for us it’s these pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting! These have become a fan and family favorite over the years because they are just that good.
This pumpkin bars recipe is ideal for any fall occasion. Every time we make them, we cannot stop sneaking bites! All our friends and family adore these, and here’s why:
This pumpkin bars recipe is simply a matter of mixing the dry ingredients, the wet ingredients, combining them and baking! Here are a few notes on the overall process:
These pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting are nothing without that sweet, creamy layer of goodness on top. If you’ve never made cream cheese frosting, it’s simple but requires a few tricks:
The last thing to know about these pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting? They’re best stored refrigerated! While you can store them at room temperature, the frosting holds up best in the fridge. Store the bars refrigerated for up to 5 days.
In the fall, it’s all about that cozy orange squash. Here are a few more pumpkin recipes and pumpkin desserts you’ll love:
These pumpkin bars are vegetarian. For vegan, substitute flax eggs and this vegan cream cheese frosting.
PrintThese pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting are a fall favorite! These soft, cozy bars are packed with pumpkin spice flavor and finished with a lusciously creamy frosting. Every time we serve them, someone asks for the recipe!
For the pumpkin bars
For the cream cheese frosting
A good pumpkin bread recipe is an essential for any home cook. As cookbook authors and passionate home cooks, we’ve made more pumpkin bread recipes than we can count. Here’s our spin: we wanted to create a loaf that was easy to make and full of flavor.
This one comes out cozy-spiced, tender, and moist, with a texture not too fluffy or too dense. It’s simple to whip up: one bowl, no special equipment; just dump and stir! Top it with a sweet maple glaze to take it over the top. It’s the quick bread to make in fall!
There are many ways to make a great pumpkin bread. Alex and I created this one to be ultra moist, with the perfect sweet, cozy spiced flavor and soft, tender crumb. Why is it easy? There’s no need for a mixer or waiting for butter to come to room temperature: you can mix it all up in one bowl! Here are a few ingredient notes for this recipe:
This pumpkin bread recipe is easier than most: no need for a stand mixer or two loaf pans. It’s straightforward and made in one bowl! There are a few things to keep in mind for baking success:
This easy pumpkin bread is delicious plain, but we like it best with a glaze! This maple glaze is simple to whip up and has a sweet, maple-forward flavor.
Want a solid glaze? Make double the glaze recipe below and glaze the cooled bread in the pan, so the glaze doesn’t run down the sides.
OF course, there are lots of ways to riff on a pumpkin bread recipe. Here are a few ideas for adding to the top or inside this bread:
This pumpkin bread recipe tastes even better the next day, because it picks up moisture during storage. Here are a few tips for storage of this quick bread:
When it’s pumpkin season, you’ve got to taste test them all! Here are a few tasty pumpkin recipes you might enjoy:
This easy pumpkin bread recipe is vegetarian. For vegan, go to Vegan Pumpkin Bread. For gluten-free, go to Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
This easy pumpkin bread recipe is made in just one bowl and bakes up into the best moist, cozy-spiced slices. Top it with a simple maple glaze to take it over the top! This is our family favorite recipe we use every fall.
For the pumpkin bread
For the glaze (optional*)
*You can also use this 1-Minute Powdered Sugar Icing or Vanilla Glaze for topping.
When it comes to favorite pumpkin recipes, here’s one at the very top for us: these chewy iced pumpkin cookies! Whenever we make these for someone, they rave (recently, our son’s teacher couldn’t say enough about them).
These sweet morsels are lusciously pillowy and chewy, scented with a burst of fall spices and a hint of molasses. The exterior has a subtle sugar crunch and a drizzle of simple sweet icing. Even better, the soft texture holds up for days. They really are the best: great for fall desserts, Halloween, Thanksgiving and everything in between.
We’re not huge fans of cakey pumpkin cookies. You know, the kind that are basically like little round pumpkin cakes? To us they’re not really cookies, more like cake bites. So with this recipe, we created pumpkin cookies that are soft and chewy, with the texture of a molasses ginger cookie but with pumpkin and pumpkin spices. The key here? Don’t use too much pumpkin puree: it adds lots of moisture which leads to cakey cookies. Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this pumpkin cookie recipe:
Cookies can be temperamental, and pumpkin cookies are no different. It’s challenging to get cookies that look perfectly identical. Here are a few tips for upping your baking game:
There’s a fair amount of variation between pumpkin puree brands. Some are rather dry, and others are very wet.
We’ve found from experimentation that Libby brand of canned pumpkin has the best dry texture for baking. We’re not affiliated with the brand; we’ve just noticed that other brands can be very wet. If you have access to this brand, we’ve found it yields the most consistent results.
These pumpkin cookies hold up well over time. This is a must for cookies in our opinion, since you’re making them in such a big batch. Here’s what to note about storing these cookies:
Everyone goes crazy for this pumpkin cookies recipe! They come out ultra soft, chewy, and cozy-spiced, drizzled with a sweet and simple icing. In our opinion, it’s the perfect fall cookie!
For the cookies
For the glaze (or Maple Glaze)
*Don’t use pumpkin pie filling! Canned pumpkin can vary in moisture level, and too much moisture makes cakey pumpkin cookies. We’ve found Libby brand canned pumpkin has the best dry texture for baking, while other brands can have more moisture than others.
**You can also chill the dough longer than it takes to bake the first tray, but let it come to roughly room temperature before making the balls. (Baking the dough right from chilled yields different results.)
Variation: Try this Maple Glaze for topping the cookies.
‘Tis the season! Here are a few more pumpkin recipes you’ll love:
Looking for a cozy fall muffin? Have we got one for you: this easy Pumpkin Muffins recipe! These muffins are the perfect level of sweetness, moist and cozy scented with pumpkin spice: cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg and cloves.
We made them for a crowd and everyone agreed: these are fantastic! The flavor of fall is encapsulated in each bite. This is the recipe to try if you have a load of pumpkin puree in your pantry or fridge (and we do).
These pumpkin spice muffins are a straightforward spin on the classic muffin, using a hefty dose of pumpkin spice. They’re not overly sweetened or rich, relying on pumpkin and applesauce for much of the moistness. Here are the ingredients you’ll use:
There’s not much to this pumpkin spice muffins recipe: it’s made like a classic baked good. Mix the wets, mix the dries, combine, and bake! It takes just 25 minutes and these bake up like a charm: they come out moist and cozy scented.
Fall is not complete without a big bottle of pumpkin pie spice! But did you know you can also make it at home? It’s fun to do and works as a DIY gift as well. Here’s what you need for homemade pumpkin pie spice:
There are several ways to mix up these best pumpkin muffins! Our recipe uses a bit of granulated sugar and pumpkin spice as the topping, but you can vary that or add a few mix-ins to the batter. Here are some ideas:
What’s the best way to store these pumpkin spice muffins? The sugar adds a little crunch to the topping, so here’s the best way for it to hold up:
This easy pumpkin muffins recipe is vegetarian.
PrintThis pumpkin muffins recipe is a fall go-to! Each batch comes out moist and perfectly seasoned with pumpkin spice.
When you’re in the mood for pumpkin spice, here are a few more pumpkin spice recipes to use it:
If there’s a favorite fruit in our family, it’s the apple (especially in the fall!). Here’s a fun way we created to blend them into a tasty breakfast or snack: healthy apple muffins! Ever since we made this popular healthy banana muffins recipe using oatmeal in a blender, we’ve been making them over and over. But we don’t always have ripe bananas on hand—hence, the apple variation!
These muffins are hearty and wholesome, starring oatmeal blended with maple syrup, eggs, cinnamon and allspice. They taste so good and most people are surprised to know they have no flour at all. We love them with a slather of almond butter as a breakfast or snack—and our kids gobble them up! We hope you love this variation as much as we do.
Note: The term healthy is subjective. Here, the term healthy means there is less sugar than the standard muffin. The basis for the recipe is also whole grain oats, instead of all purpose flour and granulated sugar. However, healthy eating can include a balance of foods and may look different for everyone. Contact your doctor for more information on what is right for you!
Alex and I made these healthy apple muffins after a trip to the apple orchard, and they’ve since become a family favorite. They follow the concept of blender muffins: all you have to do is throw the ingredients in a blender! Here are a few notes on what you need:
The maple syrup grading system changed in 2015 to remove Grade B. We like using maple syrup marked “Grade A: Dark Color and Robust Taste,” which we find has the best flavor. We generally avoid maple syrup labeled Amber or Golden, since it is much lighter in flavor.
There are lots of ways to mix up these healthy apple muffins! Here are a few ideas:
These healthy apple muffins store very well over time. Here’s what to know about storage:
Try our apple dip, a healthy way to make caramel using peanut butter and maple syrup. Go for a crisp apple slaw, a cozy apple cranberry crisp or apple bread, or start the day with apple cinnamon oatmeal.
These healthy apple muffins are vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, go to Vegan Apple Muffins.
Yes, these muffins are completely flourless! They get their structure from oats and eggs, making them a great option for those with gluten sensitivities or those looking for a healthier alternative to traditional muffins.
Rolled oats are preferred for this recipe as they provide a chewier texture. However, you can use quick oats in a pinch. The texture of the muffins may be slightly different.
You can try substituting the maple syrup with honey or agave nectar, but keep in mind that this may alter the flavor and sweetness of the muffins.
Unfortunately, this specific recipe relies on eggs for binding and structure, making it difficult to veganize. However, you may be able to find vegan oat muffin recipes online that use flax eggs or other substitutes.
These healthy apple muffins use oatmeal and maple syrup to make a deliciously wholesome muffin! They’re made in a blender with no flour, and make a great breakfast or snack slathered with almond butter.
If you like a sweeter muffin, use ¼ cup maple syrup and ⅓ cup brown sugar or 2/3 cup maple syrup. We like using maple syrup marked “Grade A: Dark Color and Robust Taste,” which we find has the best flavor. We generally avoid maple syrup labeled Amber or Golden, since it is much lighter in flavor.
If desired, you can omit the allspice, or substitute ground ginger or even pumpkin pie spice for the allspice.
There’s banana bread—and then there’s this brown butter banana bread recipe. There’s just something about the sultry nutty richness of brown butter that keeps us coming back for more. This moist, sweet scented banana bread is delightful on its own, but add the salted caramel glaze on top for pure banana bread decadence.
We first made this banana bread inspired by the browning bananas on our counter and a friend recovering from surgery. It turned out so delicious that we’ve been making it ever since. I mean, what’s not to love about brown butter, salted caramel and banana bread all in one bite? It’s transcendental.
I absolutely love this banana bread. The glaze is that little extra something that puts it over the top and makes it a little different from all the other bazillion of banana bread recipes out there. I bet it would be really really good with some whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. That would be quite the dessert! -Annika
The main requirement for banana bread is the ripest bananas you can find! This is the perfect use for those bananas blackening on the counter. Here’s what you’ll need here:
This star in this recipe is brown butter: which is simply standard butter cooked a bit longer until the milk solids toast and turn golden brown. This gives the butter a nutty and caramelized flavor that adds depth and richness to dishes. You’ll want it to become very brown, then remove it from the heat right before it burns. Here are the steps for how to brown butter:
Step 1: Place the butter in a large skillet, cut into pieces. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally. First the butter melts, then it starts to foam (around 1 ½ minutes if browning 1 stick of butter).
Step 2: Continue to stir occasionally until the foaming stops and the butter starts to bubble, typically around 4 to 5 minutes.
Step 3: Continue to stir occasionally until the butter becomes brown in color and starts to smell nutty, around 5 to 7 minutes. Immediately remove the butter from the heat and pour it into a bowl to cool.
This brown butter banana bread stores well. The bread lasts 4 to 5 days at room temperature wrapped in aluminum foil, refrigerated for 10 days, or frozen for 3 months.
If you’re planning to freeze the bread, it’s best to freeze it without the icing. Slice it into pieces and wrap it in plastic wrap then a freezer-safe bag or container.
Love brown butter? Try our brown butter chocolate chip cookies, brown butter pancake with maple caramel syrup, or our brown butter sage sauce.
This brown butter banana bread recipe is vegetarian. For vegan, use flax eggs and coconut milk for the caramel.
Actually yes! This recipe is still delicious with normal butter; just melt it first.
The butter will start to foam and sizzle, then turn a golden brown color and release a nutty aroma. Be careful not to burn it!
Absolutely! Chopped walnuts, pecans, chocolate chips, caramel chips, or peanut butter chips would all make delicious additions.
You can try using whole milk or coconut milk, but the glaze may not be as thick or rich.
This brown butter banana bread will have everyone talking—it stars the nutty richness of brown butter and a luscious salted caramel glaze. It’s a family favorite that everyone goes crazy for!
For the brown butter banana bread
For the salted caramel glaze (optional)
*If not making the glaze, consider using 1 cup sugar in the banana bread.
Looking for a fun blueberry dessert idea? This blueberry crumble recipe is our top pick! Move on over, blueberry cobbler—this crumble has you beat.
It’s got a juicy, fruity berry filling seasoned with cinnamon, allspice and lemon zest. Then it’s topped with buttery, crisp crumbles scented with cinnamon. Serve it with melty vanilla ice cream, and it’s truly sublime. We can’t get enough of it, and we’d pick it over a cobbler or crisp any day!
This blueberry crumble recipe is our favorite alternative to a crisp, though we love both nearly equally. The difference between a crumble and a crisp? Technically, a crisp has oats or nuts in the topping and a crumble does not: it’s essentially butter, flour and sugar.
The lines have blurred in modern definitions of these recipes, so often you’ll see crumbles with oats. As much as we love oats, we went with the classic definition of a crumble here: and it was well worth it. Here’s what you’ll need for this blueberry crumble:
Don’t feel like you have to have a load of fresh blueberries for this one! This recipe calls for 4 cups fresh blueberries: which we had on hand from blueberry picking in Michigan. Don’t have access to that many blueberries? You can use frozen too! Add them to the recipe frozen: no need to defrost. Keep in mind that store-bought frozen berries can be a little more tart than fresh berries, so you may want to add a hint more sugar to the filling.
There are special precautions to take for baking with blueberries in cobbler, muffins and scones (the berries can bleed and dye the baked goods purple!). But with a crumble, there’s no risk: the berries don’t mix with the dry goods. This crumble is also a great place to use fresh blueberries that you froze to preserve them: just throw them into the pan frozen.
This recipe calls for 7 tablespoons butter. If you bake a lot, you’ll notice most crumble and crisp recipes call for either 6 tablespoons of butter or 8 tablespoons. But trust us! Seven is the magic number here, and it makes for absolutely perfect crumbles.
Want to make this blueberry crumble vegan? Just use vegan butter in place of standard butter: it works like a charm.
Once you’ve got your beautiful blueberry crumble, you’ll find it tastes great right out of the pan. But like most crumble recipes, it tastes even better topped with vanilla ice cream! The contrast of rich cream against the tart berries is perfection. Here are a few of our favorite toppings for this stunning dessert:
Want to save this blueberry crumble? This dessert saves well at room temperature, refrigerated or frozen.
This blueberry crumble recipe is vegetarian. For vegan and plant-based, use vegan butter.
This blueberry crumble recipe is a favorite! The nostalgic summer dessert stars a sweet tart fruit filling topped with buttery crumbles.
*No need to defrost frozen berries before using. Note that storebought frozen berries can be a little more tart than fresh berries; if desired, add a hint more sugar to the filling (to taste).
This blueberry crumble is a favorite of our top blueberry desserts. Here are a few more to try:
We’re big chocolate people around here. When it comes to cookies, our vegan chocolate chip cookies or brown butter chocolate chip cookies recipes reign supreme. Usually we pass up oatmeal raisin—except in the case of these vegan oatmeal raisin cookies!
These cookies are pure goodness: soft and chewy, with just the right scent of cinnamon and chewy pops of sweet raisin in every bite. The key to the flavor? Just the right hint of almond extract seals the deal. Eaters of all kinds love these, and I personally could not believe how delicious they are! They’re great if you’re out of eggs, and perfect for vegan baking. You will swoon! (We hope.)
These vegan oatmeal raisin cookies are easy to put together with simple, regular ingredients that are easy to find at a normal grocery store. Applesauce helps bind the dough together instead of egg. Here are a few ingredient and substitution notes:
These vegan oatmeal raisin cookies don’t require chilling the dough, which makes them quick and simple to mix up! There are just a few tips to watch out for when baking:
These vegan chocolate chip cookies are delicious warm from the oven, after cooling about 20 minutes. The cookies also hold up well over time. This is a must for cookies in our opinion, since you’re making them in a big batch. Here’s what to note about storing these cookies:
This vegan oatmeal raisin cookies recipe is one in our hall of fame of vegan cookies! If you love these, make sure to try our Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies, Vegan Oatmeal Cookies, Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies, Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Vegan Cookie Dough.
These vegan oatmeal raisin cookies are vegan and dairy-free.
While all-purpose flour works well, you can experiment with using up to ¼ of the volume with whole wheat flour. We have not tested this recipe with gluten-free flour.
We have not tested with other types of sweeteners. We do not recommend using maple syrup or agave syrup since they add moisture and the texture becomes more cake-like.
Absolutely! Chopped nuts, chocolate chips, or dried cranberries would all make delicious additions.
These vegan oatmeal raisin cookies are beyond delicious—soft, chewy, and infused with comforting cinnamon! They’re easy to make and please any type of eater (or are perfect if you’re out of eggs). Of all our vegan cookies, this recipe is a favorite!
*We highly recommend using the almond extract for the best flavor! 1/16 teaspoon equates to 1 to 2 drops, just enough to give it a nuance in flavor but not enough that it is strongly perceptible. We use a ⅛ teaspoon measure and fill it halfway; if you don’t have one, you can approximate using a ¼ teaspoon.
Here’s everyone’s favorite summer dessert turned into a muffin: peach cobbler muffins! As cookbook authors and recipe developers, we’ve found that mashup recipes are always fun. Take two great things and put them together—greatness is born!
These muffins are light and fluffy, with the perfect springy crumb from buttermilk. The peaches add a juicy hit to each bite, and the top is drizzled with a simple vanilla icing to mimic the vanilla ice cream traditionally served with peach cobbler. We created these inspired by some ripe peaches on our counter, and our friends and family were head over heels!
These peach muffins are so moist and soft and light! I seriously think we could have each eaten 2 to 3 in one go. The only noises the kids made while eating them were “Mmm yum, yuuummmm!” I also got, “These are the best muffins you’ve ever made mama!” -Tanvee
These peach cobbler muffins come together simply, but you’ve got to have two star ingredients: ripe peaches and buttermilk. (They can still be good without it, but not as good.) We’ve formulated this recipe to make very tall, soft, and fluffy muffins. Here’s a rundown:
This peach muffins recipe is a riff on our rhubarb muffins, which makes a very tall, fluffy muffin with a large muffin top (which is key with muffins, we think!). Here are a few tricks to this recipe:
This vanilla icing adds a nice hit of sweetness to these peach cobbler muffins, and is reminiscent of the peach ice cream you’d use to traditionally top a cobbler. It’s a spin on our 1 minute powdered sugar icing. Here are a few notes about the icing and some other topping ideas:
These peach cobbler muffins taste great the day of, and they’re best eaten the day of baking. You can store at room temperature covered with a towel about 2 days if iced or refrigerated for up to 1 week (allow to come to room temperature before serving). You can also store frozen without glaze for up to 3 months.
These peach cobbler muffins are vegetarian. For vegan, use Vegan Blueberry Muffins and substitute peaches, or use a flax egg and non-dairy milk of your choice in the recipe below.
Got peaches? You’ll love these peach recipes: try peaches and cream oatmeal to start the day, or simple peach burrata salad. Bake up a peach crisp, peach crumble, or fresh peach pie, or try our tasty peach salsa.
You can substitute frozen or canned peaches (no sugar added). For frozen, allow them to thaw until you can dice them, then discard any extra liquid.
If the icing is too thick, add a teaspoon of milk at a time until you reach the desired consistency. If it’s too thin, add a tablespoon of powdered sugar at a time until it thickens up.
Yes, you can use any type of milk you prefer, such as almond milk, oat milk, or skim milk. Start with slightly less than the recipe specifies and add more as necessary.
Absolutely! Chopped pecans, walnuts, or a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg would all be delicious additions.
Yes, you can grease the muffin tin well with butter or cooking spray to prevent sticking.
These peach cobbler muffins are a delicious mashup of a muffin with everyone’s favorite summer dessert! Each fluffy bite is packed with juicy peaches and a sweet vanilla glaze, with the warm, comforting flavors of cobbler in every bite.
For the peach muffins
For the vanilla icing
You can also substitute frozen or canned peaches (no sugar added). For frozen, allow them to thaw until you can dice them, then discard any extra liquid.
For the most even baking, you can place the muffin wrappers into every other hole in 2 12-cup muffin tins.
Buttermilk is the magic ingredient which makes the most consistent texture and rise! A buttermilk substitute can work, but it’s much better with the real thing and is worth a trip to the store (we promise).
When visiting the South of France recently, Alex and I spotted a French flatbread we had to try: fougasse bread. The beautiful leaf shape is what enticed us first, but after the first bite we became fast fans. It’s crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and perfectly salty and savory (it’s like a French version of focaccia). “So good!” would mumble to each other with stuffed mouths.
As cookbook authors, we knew just what to do when we returned from France: find out how to our own fougasse! After lots of research and many recipe tests, here’s our best fougasse bread: fluffy, savory, and flavored with Parmesan, rosemary, and flaky salt. It’s the perfect appetizer or side dish: everyone who’s tried it has raved—and then asked us for the recipe!
A few readers helped us to test out this fougasse bread: here’s what they had to say:
Here’s the basic outline of the process to make fougasse bread. Fougasse takes about 4 ½ hours total, with about 30 minutes hands on time. It’s best to make on a weekend or day off when you have time to intersperse the steps into your daily rhythm. Here’s an outline on the steps required:
Mix and rest (autolyse) | 5 minutes active, 1 hour hands off |
Knead the dough | 10 minutes active |
First rise | 1 ½ to 2 hours, hands off |
Shape the dough | 5 minutes active |
Second rise | 30 minutes, hands off |
Bake | 5 minutes active, 15 minutes hands off |
Cool | 15 minutes hands off |
Fougasse is a rustic bread from the French region of Provence, known for its leaf-like shape and crispy crust. It often has decorative slashes that create its unique appearance.
It’s typically made with simple ingredients like flour, water, yeast, olive oil, and salt, and can be flavored with toppings like herbs, olives, cheese, or cured meats. Fougasse is very versatile: it can be enjoyed on its own, dipped in olive oil, or served as an accompaniment to soups, salads, or other dishes.
You’ll need a handful of ingredients make fougasse bread: try to stick to these ingredients! We tested this recipe with all purpose flour and the texture was noticeably not as springy. Here’s what you’ll need:
Here are a few questions and troubleshooting tips for making homemade fougasse:
Fougasse works well with toppings: the fougasse we ate in France had different types of cheeses and meats! Try adding sliced black olives, other types of cheese, sun dried tomatoes, roasted garlic, or even cured meats.
Store the fougasse bread wrapped in cloth or in a bread bag on the counter for up to 2 days; this allows the bread to “breathe.” Avoid storing in plastic since it becomes soft and moist. You can also freeze the bread wrapped in foil in a plastic bag for several months.
Love to bake? Some of our top homemade bread recipes are our olive bread, focaccia bread, easy no knead bread, and our popular sourdough bread. You might also enjoy this baguette recipe.
This fougasse bread recipe is vegetarian. For vegan, omit the Parmesan cheese or use vegan Parmesan.
Yes, fougasse and focaccia share similarities in their flatbread shape and use of olive oil. However, fougasse has a crispier texture and a distinct leaf-like shape with decorative slashes.
Bread flour is best for a slightly chewier texture.
After shaping the dough into an oval, use a sharp knife or a lame (a baker’s scoring tool) to make diagonal slashes across the surface, resembling a leaf’s veins.
Store fougasse at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Reheat it briefly in the oven for the best texture.
Fougasse bread is a traditional French bread with a leaf-like shape and a delightful crispy crust! Here’s our step-by-step guide for how to bake this tasty bread at home and impress your friends and family with your baking skills.
Ingredients:
Topping:
This dough is easiest to make in a stand mixer, but if you don’t have one you can hand knead!
If you love snickerdoodles and zucchini bread: why not enjoy both at once? Welcome to the magic of snickerdoodle zucchini bread, which became an instant favorite in our house! This loaf is moist and sweet, swirled with cinnamon and topped with crunchy cinnamon sugar so it tastes like that cozy cookie.
We created this recipe to use up a bunch zucchini our neighbor gave us from her garden. Since we already have recipes for zucchini bread, lemon zucchini bread, and chocolate zucchini bread, we were looking for something a little different. This sweetly spiced spin won us over.
“This is a delicious zucchini bread and lends itself quite nicely to the snickerdoodle flavor profile! And it’s even better on day 2 – I had some with breakfast this morning .” -Valerie
Snickerdoodle zucchini bread is a simple spin on the classic zucchini bread recipe. It’s a quick bread, meaning it’s baked without yeast (like pumpkin bread, banana bread, apple bread, and others). If you love to make baked goods, it’s a fun thing to bake that feels fancier than it is! Here’s what you’ll need:
This snickerdoodle zucchini bread is special because it has a cinnamon swirl through the middle. You’ll add half the batter to the pan, top with cinnamon sugar, then add the other half of batter and more cinnamon sugar. Here’s how to make the swirl:
Here are a few more tips for making sure this bread comes out perfectly moist:
This snickerdoodle zucchini bread stores well. Keep it up to 3 days at room temperature wrapped in aluminum foil, 1 week refrigerated, or up to 3 months frozen.
There are so many zucchini recipes to use this versatile vegetable. Make it into a main dish with zucchini lasagna or stuffed zucchini boats, or try it as an appetizer with zucchini fritters. Bake it into zucchini bread, zucchini muffins, or zucchini brownies.
There are also so many tasty zucchini bread variations: our top four are lemon, chocolate, banana, and chocolate chip.
This snickerdoodle zucchini bread recipe is vegetarian. For vegan, substitute a flax egg and use vegan butter.
Yes, you can omit the cream of tartar if you don’t have it on hand.
No, you don’t need to peel the zucchini. Just wash it thoroughly, trim the ends, and grate it.
You can get creative with add-ins. Chopped nuts (like walnuts or pecans) or cinnamon chips would be delicious additions.
This snickerdoodle zucchini bread combines two cozy baked goods into the perfect blend of sweet and spice! The moist zucchini bread gets a warm, cinnamon-sugar twist so it tastes a bit like your favorite cookie—but better.
For the zucchini bread
For the cinnamon sugar and topping
Use all the moisture from the zucchini in this recipe, since its liquid quantity is required for the bread (do not drain).