Yeast baking recipes

Let the dough rise

These recipes aren't the quickest: the dough requires mixing, often kneading, and then waiting for it to rise. Nevertheless, yeast-based bread is one of the most common and popular types of baked goods. Whether it's simple dinner rolls, white or wheat bread, or fruitcakes, nothing compares to freshly baked bread. Yeast-based baked goods also include sweets, such as cinnamon rolls, glazed buns, and babkas. This collection features the best yeast bread recipes—choose yours and start baking!

Parker House Buns

Since their introduction in the late 1800s at Boston's Parker House Hotel, these namesake buns have gained popularity and become a common addition to the dinner table. These soft, buttery buns boast a crisp, golden-brown crust with egg whites and coarse salt flakes, creating a pleasant contrast to the sweet dough.

Recipe: Parker House Buns

Peasant bread without kneading

This is the perfect recipe for beginner bakers. The dough consists of just five ingredients, and you just need to mix it by hand. After it rises, fold it a few times to shape it.

Recipe: Peasant bread without kneading

Wonderful white bread

Tyler Florence's White Sesame Bread is a classic bread you'll want to make again and again. With it, school lunches and morning toast will never be the same.

Recipe: Wonderful white bread

Roll buns with sticky icing

This baked good is a little different from cinnamon rolls. For sticky buns, the glaze topping (Bobby Flay makes it with honey, almonds, orange juice, and orange zest) is poured into a baking pan, and then the dough is rolled into spirals on top. When you remove the buns from the pan, they're coated in a thick layer of sticky, sweet glaze.

Recipe: Roll buns with sticky icing

Homemade flatbreads

Did you know that flatbread contains the same amount of yeast as regular bread? The dough is rolled out very thinly before baking or, as in this recipe, grilling. These flatbreads are perfect for outdoor barbecues.

Recipe: Homemade flatbreads

Sweet pretzels

Brown sugar gives the pretzels a subtle sweetness, typical of this popular, delicious pastry. The golden-brown, salt-sprinkled pretzels are best eaten with ground mustard.

Recipe: Sweet pretzels

How to make cinnamon rolls

A great cinnamon roll recipe involves the right amount of glaze (it keeps the dough moist) and a dough that mixes perfectly. Gail Gand recommends stretching a small piece of dough and holding it up to the light: if you can see the lattice (layers of gluten), the dough is ready. And her glaze of brown sugar, butter, honey, and cinnamon is just the thing.

Recipe: How to make cinnamon rolls

Croissants

Flaky, delicate croissants aren't the easiest recipe; they require careful handling and frequent chilling. Gail Gand offers detailed instructions in her recipe so you can make croissants just like the ones in Parisian bakeries.

Recipe: Croissants

Arabic pita with a pocket

Want to know the secret to creating air pockets in warm pita? Each circle of dough you roll out should be perfectly flat, without any cracks; cracks will prevent the pita from rising properly. Once it rises, it naturally collapses, leaving an air pocket in the center.

Recipe: Arabic pita with a pocket

Homemade sweet bread with raisins and cinnamon

Instead of the store-bought muffins you've known since childhood, try making Giada De Laurentiis's homemade version with raisin and cinnamon. This recipe isn't particularly sweet—the muffin contains nutmeg and cinnamon and is topped with raisins and walnuts, making it perfect for a variety of spreads and spreads.

Recipe: Homemade sweet bread with raisins and cinnamon

Nut woman

The classic cinnamon sugar babka cake gets a sweeter, nuttier flavor when chopped hazelnuts are added to the batter and topped with it.

Recipe: Nut woman

Quick buns

Kelsey Nixon's popular buns are the fastest yeast dough recipe (the entire process takes just 1 hour!); they rise in just 20 minutes thanks to triple the amount of yeast, and bake for 25 minutes. Yet, the buns turn out soft and springy.

Recipe: Quick buns

Naan is an Indian fried flatbread.

This Northern Indian flatbread offers a beautiful contrast: airy and elastic, with dark, burnt bubbles and a crispy bottom. It's typically baked in a tandoor, a clay oven that can reach temperatures of up to 480°C (800°F). These conditions are difficult to replicate at home, but this recipe makes a very similar flatbread.

Recipe: Naan is an Indian fried flatbread.

Pretzel buns

This is a cross between a bun and a soft pretzel: the deep flavor of sourdough bread meets the sweet and salty flavor of a favorite street food. The dough is folded into a spiral, leaving golden-brown pits and cracks on the surface after baking, which hold coarse sea salt flakes well.

Recipe: Pretzel buns

Honey bread

Honey makes Ina Garten's white bread even sweeter—perfect for spreading jam, butter, and soft cheeses.

Recipe: Honey bread

Pizza with ricotta and tomatoes

This is a wonderful recipe for those just starting out with yeast dough. It's simple, but produces a wonderful result—homemade pizza! The recipe calls for fresh crushed tomatoes, ricotta, and basil, but the toppings are entirely customizable, depending on your tastes, creativity, and the ingredients you have on hand.

Recipe: Pizza with ricotta and tomatoes

Focaccia with olives

Tyler's focaccia received top ratings from Food Network readers. The dense dough is topped with a Mediterranean-inspired mixture of olives, garlic, onions, herbs, and Parmesan.

Recipe: Focaccia with olives

Small brioche buns

To make buns fluffy and airy, just like from a bakery, mix the dough according to Aina's detailed instructions.

Recipe: Small brioche buns

Cinnamon donuts

Gail's square donuts are the perfect treat with your morning coffee: they're dusted with cinnamon sugar on the outside and a hint of nutmeg on the inside.

Recipe: Cinnamon donuts

Sweet potato buns

These delicious American buns are served at Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. Sweet and with a pleasant texture, they have rightfully earned their status as a classic pastry.

Recipe: Sweet potato buns

Basic dough for sweet rolls

Whether you're making cinnamon rolls, glazed buns, or monkey bread, all you need to know is this basic dough recipe. All you have to do is choose the perfect glaze, cream, or dip.

Recipe: Basic dough for sweet rolls

Glazed twist buns

The sprinkles are a unique addition to these buns; they're similar to cinnamon buns, but firmer and have crispier edges, adding a pleasant caramelized flavor.

Recipe: Glazed twist buns

Cinnamon baba

Tyler brilliantly combines two beloved sweet yeast pastries in one recipe. A filling of brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and walnuts, hidden between layers of dough, brings both treats together. And a sugar glaze with orange zest helps preserve the richness and adds a distinctive dessert note.

Recipe: Cinnamon baba

Cinnamon Rolls with Bacon, Bourbon and Hazelnuts

Hedy Goldsmith elevates standard cinnamon rolls by coating the sugar glaze with a mixture of roasted hazelnuts and bacon. This gives the dessert a salty, savory note and a nutty depth of flavor.

Recipe: Cinnamon Rolls with Bacon, Bourbon and Hazelnuts

Homemade French baguette

Fill your kitchen with the aroma of a French bakery with Kelsey Nixon's simple recipe. Pay special attention to the dough's moisture content before checking for doneness.

Recipe: Homemade French baguette

Multigrain focaccia with garlic and herbs

The word "focaccia" comes from the Latin word for hearth—traditionally, this flatbread was baked in the ashes of a fire. This recipe features savory, whole-grain focaccia topped with garlic, thyme, and rosemary.

Recipe: Multigrain focaccia with garlic and herbs

Savarin in vanilla-cognac syrup

This light and airy dessert proves that yeast isn't just for savory baking. It's a wonderful base for any fruit you like. The dough turns into an airy cake, drenched in sweet syrup.

Recipe: Savarin in vanilla-cognac syrup