11 Homemade Breads to Bake This Weekend

This collection of 11 Homemade Breads to Bake This Weekend is perfect if you have a free Saturday and a bag of flour. There are soft loaves, flatbreads you can cook in a frying pan, and a batch of crusty rolls. Many of them need little more than flour, yeast, water and salt, plus a couple of hours for rising. The overnight one is at number 11, so start that on Friday evening. Save this list for your next baking weekend.

Pita Bread Recipe

These are soft Greek-style pitas without pockets, made with flour, yeast, water, sugar and salt. You can cook them in a frying pan or bake them in the oven. They're ready in about an hour and 40 minutes, and most of that is rising time.

To learn more: Pita Bread Recipe

Italian Cheese and Herb Bread

This recipe makes two soft loaves, brushed with garlic and herb oil and topped with mozzarella and Parmesan. They take about two and a quarter hours, and an hour and a half of that is rising. Serve it with soup or pasta.

Get the recipe: Italian Cheese and Herb Bread

Laffa Bread, Thicker Than Pita

Homemade laffa breads under a striped cloth. — Ayla Clulee

Laffa is a soft, chewy flatbread from Iraq, a little thicker than pita. Bake it in the oven if you want pockets, or cook it in a pan if you don't. Number 4 is a soft Swiss loaf for breakfast or brunch.

Find the recipe here: Laffa Bread

Braided Bread

This Swiss braided loaf is made with milk, butter, flour and yeast, and brushed with egg yolk before baking. It takes about two hours and 20 minutes, including the rising. Slice it for breakfast with butter and jam.

See the full recipe: Braided Bread

Bazlama, Cooked in a Frying Pan

A stack of pan-cooked bazlama flatbreads. — Ayla Clulee

Bazlama is a soft Turkish flatbread made with yoghurt, yeast, flour and water. It cooks in a hot pan, so you don't need to turn the oven on. Eat it warm with butter, cheese or dips.

Read the recipe: Bazlama

Greek Bread - Horiatiko Psomi

Greek bread with sesame seeds, sliced on a wooden board. — Ayla Clulee

This Greek village-style loaf has fine semolina and yoghurt in the dough, with sesame seeds on top. It takes about two and a half hours, and most of that is rising. Dip it in olive oil on the day, and toast what's left the next morning.

Full recipe: Greek Bread - Horiatiko Psomi

Barbari Bread

Barbari Bread is a Persian flatbread with a crunchy golden crust, a soft inside and sesame or nigella seeds on top. It bakes on a normal baking tray after two hours of rising. Number 8 is a very soft Japanese milk bread.

Make it at home: Barbari Bread

Fluffy Japanese Hokkaido Milk Bread Recipe

A round tray of Hokkaido milk bread rolls, with one pulled apart. — Ayla Clulee

Hokkaido Milk Bread, or Shokupan, is a very soft white bread made with milk, butter and tangzhong. You can shape it as a loaf or as a tray of rolls. It takes about two and a half hours in total.

Try the recipe: Fluffy Japanese Hokkaido Milk Bread Recipe

Turkish Pide Bread - Ramazan Pidesi

Turkish pide bread with sesame and nigella seeds, cut open. — Ayla Clulee

Ramazan Pidesi is a soft, slightly chewy Turkish flatbread that's traditionally eaten during Ramadan. It's a no-knead dough, topped with a yoghurt and egg glaze and sesame or nigella seeds. It takes about an hour and a half, including the proofing.

Get the full recipe: Turkish Pide Bread - Ramazan Pidesi

Bolillo Rolls

Bolillo Rolls are the crusty white rolls you find in every bakery in Mexico. They're made with flour, water, yeast, salt and a pinch of sugar, and they're the bread for tortas. The last bread on this list rises overnight, so start it the evening before.

Step-by-step recipe: Bolillo Rolls

Easy Sourdough Bread Recipe

freshly baked sourdough bread on a cooling rack — Ayla Clulee

This sourdough loaf uses four simple ingredients and an active starter, and it bakes in a Dutch oven. The dough rises overnight, so the recipe takes about 13 hours from start to finish. Very little of that time is hands on.

To learn more: Easy Sourdough Bread Recipe