20 easy breads to bake if you’re a beginner

Soda bread isn’t a bread you see that often anymore, but it’s worth making. It’s a dense bread that comes together quickly with just a few ingredients, and as you get used to the recipe, you can add more ingredients to make it even more appealing. 

Cornbread is about as easy a recipe to make as any. There are plenty of mixes you can use to get a feel for the batter and the final product before making it from scratch, but once you venture on your own, it’ll be a breeze. 

Pita bread is a great place to start with bread because you don’t need to let it rise. It does that on its own while baking. It’s a quick recipe to throw together and allows you to understand more about the baking process without the difficulty of dealing with yeast. 

Banana bread might not even feel like bread, but it’s still worth working on if you’re looking to expand your baking abilities. It’s a great bread to bake if you need practice with versatile recipes. 

If you didn’t know that pizza dough is considered bread, now you know. And it’s a great place to start if you’re new to bread making. Every pizza recipe is suited for someone with different skill levels, but there are plenty that are perfect for beginners. 

Bagels are also considered bread and are much easier to make than you might realize. They’re also a lot of fun to make, so find a basic bagel recipe and work on your shaping skills. 

Dinner rolls do use yeast, but they’re easy enough bread to bake otherwise. The yeast step is manageable if you’ve never dealt with the ingredient before. It’s a good introduction to yeast, and the payoff is spectacular. 

Challah is a tasty bread traditional in Jewish cooking, and it’s actually pretty easy to get the hang of. Especially when using a no-knead recipe, the most difficult part to master is the braiding, but it’s definitely worth attempting. 

Focaccia is a great bread to make if you’re a beginner because it teaches you a lot about baking bread with relatively low stakes. It’s also super fun to make and allows for some creativity, as many people like to bake designs into it with herbs and vegetables. 

There’s at least one person you know who’s all in on the sourdough craze, and it might be someone you never expected to get into baking. It could be because sourdough is actually pretty easy to make. It’s a little time-consuming, but the actual work required is simple enough for beginners. 

Any bread that doesn’t require kneading is a good place to start for first-time bread bakers. And while a no-knead artisan bread requires yeast, not kneading the dough makes it a much less intense recipe. 

Traditional Indian recipes can be rather labor-intensive, but making naan isn’t. And it’s a very fun recipe because you get to use your stovetop and a skillet — two rarities in breadmaking. 

Any bread maker worth their salt is able to whip up a good sandwich bread. But sandwich bread is also good for beginners to make because it teaches you how to knead. You can also use an electric mixer to do your kneading, which makes it even more beginner-friendly. 

Ciabatta is great for beginners for many reasons, one of which is that it gives you confidence that you can make fancy-sounding breads. There are loads of ciabatta recipes, some that don’t even require kneading, so it’s worth sifting through to find one that works well for your skill level. 

There are all sorts of pull-apart bread recipes floating around the world and the internet, and they’re much easier to make than you realize. They feel more like dessert recipes than bread recipes, which is great if you’re a seasoned baker but are new to breads. 

You’ll find rye bread to be an easy type of bread to whip up, even if you’ve never made bread before in your life. There are lots of no-knead recipes to start with, and there are lots of knead recipes to work up to. 

English muffins are delicious and easy to make, even for beginners. The dough does require some kneading, but it’s a good recipe to start with if you’re new to the activity. It only takes about an hour to finish baking them, which is quick for breads. 

Some flatbreads have already been listed, but a basic flatbread recipe is also easy to make. You can use it for pizza or just as a side to a meal. It’s satisfying and doesn’t require much work to perfect. 

There are many reasons to make potato bread if you’re a beginner; one of the most common is that you get to use potatoes. Potato bread requires few ingredients, and plenty of recipes don’t require kneading. 

Many brown bread recipes are a little more difficult to attempt than white bread recipes, but pumpernickel is one exception. It’s pretty simple, and many recipes don’t require kneading or many pieces of equipment.