Celebrate World Baking Day by exploring one of humanity’s oldest sources of nutrition—bread! Although modern grocery store bread has little in common ancient Egypt’s first flatbreads, this dietary staple has remained popular through millennia and across the world.

Learn to make bread at home with help from the Library's books! We have something for everyone—whether you’re a beginner or already an accomplished baker. And don't forget: for the rest of your dishes, the Library has a huge collection of books about all kinds of cooking and baking—from classics like Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking to more recent offerings by your favorite food bloggers.

Beginners 

If you're under the impression that baking bread is time consuming and difficult, allow these books full of straightforward recipes to prove you wrong! With minimal effort—just a bit of mixing and some waiting—you can have freshly baked bread for every occasion.

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day: The Discovery that Revolutionizes Home Baking Jeff Hertzberg

Great for the true beginner who wants to make bread quickly and easily. Hertzberg’s approach involves making a large batch of dough that lasts up to a couple weeks in the fridge so that you can bake on a minute’s—or five minutes'—notice. (Full disclosure: while the time you spend working on the bread is indeed about five minutes, the start-to-finish process does take slightly longer.)

My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method Jim Lahey

Like Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, Lahey’s recipes teach you to make great bread (and pizza!) with minimal work. For the basic recipe, all that’s required is a little planning ahead—mix four ingredients together, let your dough sit for twenty-four hours, and bake! With variations on a basic recipe, plus ideas for sandwiches, pizzas, and ways to use up stale pieces, this book will keep you well-fed with bread!

Intermediate

If you're already familiar with the basics, and interested in learning some new techniques, branch out with one of these.

The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook: Artisinal Baking from Around the World Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez

Jessamyn's bakery, Hot Bread Kitchen, gives women from all backgrounds the tools they need to turn home baking into a profession—and this book gives you the tools you need to make professional quality flatbreads, loaves, and filled breads in your kitchen. With its full-color photos and background information on each recipe, this cookbook is a great way to learn more about the wonderful world of bread. The recipes are easy enough for beginners, but there's so much variety even veteran bakers are sure to find something inspiring.

Flour Water Salt Yeast : The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza Ken Forkish

Want to understand and master the nuts and bolts of bread making? This is the book for you! With just the four ingredients in the book's title, Forkish teaches you how to make breads that rival any bakery’s.

Experts

These books open your eyes to the wonderful—and complex and time consuming—world of sourdough. If you're a truly dedicated bread enthusiast, the results will be well worth your efforts.

Tartine Bread Chad Robertson

These recipes may seem intimidating, but they're broken down and described at length to help the home baker understand every step of the process. With Robertson’s recipes, you produce loaves so delicious and beautiful that no one will believe they came from your oven.

Tartine No. 3 Chad Robertson

Picking up where Tartine Bread leaves off, this book delves into the world of whole- and multi-grain bread baking, and includes breads made with less common wheat varieties like spelt and einkhorn. The technique for these recipes is the same as the one found in Tartine Bread, so it’s a good idea to tackle No. 3 only after exploring the first book.

 

BONUS: For Gluten-Free Diets

One of the great things about making your own bread is that you choose the ingredients based on your preferences. The Library has cookbooks for gluten-free and a variety of restricted diets to ensure that fresh bread can be enjoyed by all.

Gluten-free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day : The Baking Revolution Continues With 90 New, Delicious and Easy Recipes Made with Gluten-free Flours Jeff Hertzberg

"Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François have returned to their test kitchens to build on the popular gluten-free recipes that appeared in their earlier titles for an entirely gluten-free bread cookbook. Gluten-Free Bread in Five Minutes a Day extends their revolutionary stored-dough method to yeasted and unleavened breads made without wheat, barley, or rye."—Publisher

Gluten-free Bread Ellen Brown

“With the adaptation of a gluten-free diet, simple meals of toast or PBJ are suddenly far out of reach. While larger grocery stores are beginning to stock gluten-free packaged breads, nothing replaces the comforting taste of home-baked bread hot from the oven. This book includes gluten-free baking techniques plus 60 all-purpose bread recipes for brioche, sandwich bread, multi-grain varieties, quick breads, and more.”—Publisher

125 Best Gluten-free Bread Machine Recipes Donna Washburn

If you eat gluten-free, the idea of making your own bread can be intimidating. This book makes it easy by teaching you how to make a wide variety of breads—all in your bread machine.

And don't forget about the Library's digital cookbooks—check out Paleo bread: Gluten-Free Bread Recipes for a Paleo Diet, Gluten-free Bread for Beginners: Easy and Delicious Gluten-free Bread Recipes, Anna Conrad’s The Paleo Bread Bible, and Gluten-free Bread by Marc Alier and María José Casañ.

Unlock your inner baker with these cookbooks—and experience the joy of fresh bread any time!