Our Best Recipes for Rolls, Breads & Biscuits

By The editors of MidwestLiving.com
Updated September 17, 2020

Round out your dinner with buttery rolls, easy cheese-topped breadsticks, homemade brioche, herb-sprinkled toast, or fluffy biscuits.

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Classic Brioche Loaf

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Brioche is a classic French bread made with oodles of butter and egg. It's soft, rich and luxurious. This recipe comes from Heritage Baking (Chronicle, $29.95) by Ellen King, founder of Hewn bakery in Evanston, Illinois.

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Cloverleaf Rolls

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These rich rolls with easy-to-handle dough won Best Bread of Show twice for state fair entrant Denise Turnbull of Monmouth, Illinois.

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Popovers

Credit: Brie Passano
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Pastry chef Emily Marks learned all the tricks to making popovers during her five years at The Bachelor Farmer in Minneapolis, which closed during the pandemic in 2020. Serve them with the restaurant's signature honey butter or swap chopped fresh herbs, black pepper, or shredded cheese for the honey.

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Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

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Behold! We have found the holy grail of homemade bread. It's an appealingly soft, barely sweet, mostly whole wheat sandwich loaf.  And the recipe is flexible and fuss-free-no kneading required! The recipe comes from The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, by Minneapolis residents Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.

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Cheesy Chive Garlic Bread

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Every bit as good as regular homemade garlic, but with the added flavor and color of fresh chives: Prepare to be addicted.

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Buttermilk and Brown Sugar Cornbread

Credit: Brie Passano
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Everyone needs a good cornbread recipe in the back pocket. This one, from Karen Bell, chef and owner of Bavette La Boucherie in Milwaukee, is a keeper.

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Pepperoni Pizza Pull

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This warm and cheesy pull-apart bread takes just a few minutes to make. Keep the ingredients on hand, and you'll always have a quick accompaniment for a soup supper with family and friends.

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Crescent Rolls

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This family recipe for buttery, tender rolls comes from Kenda Friend of Indianapolis. "I'm convinced my husband married me for access to these rolls," says Kathy, who enjoys entering family recipes in cooking contests.

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Herbed Brioche Dinner Rolls

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Thyme and rosemary flavor these rich, buttery dinner rolls. The recipe, from the cookbook Heritage Baking (Chronicle, $29.95) by Illinois bakeshop owner Ellen King, yields 18 rolls (they freeze well).

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Sweet Potato Biscuits

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Orange zest, nutmeg and smoked paprika add layers of flavor to these tender biscuits.

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Buttermilk Biscuits

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The recipe for these flaky biscuits, a staple at Minnesota's Chef Camp, comes from Honey & Rye Bakehouse in Minneapolis. Try them with Mushroom Gravy.

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Buttermilk-Sage Dinner Rolls

Credit: Jason Donnelly
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In yeast breads such as these dinner rolls, buttermilk creates a soft, supple crumb, great sliceability and tangy aroma. Shake buttermilk vigorously; the good stuff can fall to the bottom of the carton.

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Whole Wheat Pretzel Rolls

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Soft pretzels' chewy, brown exterior comes from being boiled in an alkaline solution-the 1/4 cup baking soda in the water isn't a typo!

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Bacon-Cheddar-Chive Scones

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Melted cheese oozes out of these tender, flaky scones flecked with chives and bacon bits. Cheryl Christiansen of McPherson won best in quick breads with this scone at the Kansas State Fair.

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Classic Challah

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Minnesota blogger Molly Yeh often twists her challahs into simple spirals. This recipe-adapted from her cookbook Molly on the Range ($32.50, Rodale)- makes four small loaves, perfect for freezing or sharing. (Slightly stale challah also makes dreamy French toast.)

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Garlic Bread

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Chef Howard Hanna of The Rieger in Kansas City doesn't over-complicate garlic bread. It's buttery, lightly herby and very addictive.

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War Eagle Mill Buttermilk Biscuits

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"My recipes are like my children. I'd hate to single one out as a favorite," says Zoe Caywood, who worked for many years as a miller at War Eagle Mill just east of Rogers, Arkansas. These biscuits are from one of Zoe's cookbooks. The recipe blends wheat and all-purpose flours for a fuller flavor than in traditional biscuits.

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Sweet Potato Rolls

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Bits of sweet potato fleck these moist dinner rolls from Sandra Schifferle of Lansing, Kansas. She puts Kansas wheat to good use in this recipe. For a quick prep, microwave your sweet potato, then cool and mash the veggie for the rolls.

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Cream Biscuits

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There is something rather miraculous about stirring together two ingredients (yes, two ingredients!) and getting delicious homemade biscuits.

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Orange-Spice Challah Buns

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Melding her husband's Norwegian roots with her own Jewish heritage, blogger Molly Yeh's soft, slightly chewy rolls are ideal for brunch or even as a sweet complement to a holiday dinner.

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Scallion Pancake Challah

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Minnesota blogger Molly Yeh fills each of the three strands of her challah with chopped green onion, sesame oil and red pepper flakes. The result is a braided loaf that quite literally weaves together both sides of her ancestry-Jewish and Chinese. The recipe comes from Molly's book Molly on the Range (Rodale, $32.50).

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Sage Potato Rolls

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For a pretty presentation, lightly dip the top of each dough ball into flour or brush with egg white. Top each with a sage leaf, brush with egg white, and place on prepared baking sheets.

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Buttermilk Biscuits

Credit: Jeremy Charles
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St. Louis chef Kevin Nashan of Peacemaker Lobster and Crab restaurant serves these slightly sweet biscuits with his seafood boils; but even if you never throw a lobster or shrimp boil party, file this great recipe away.

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Corn-on-Corn Bread

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Corn bread gets a makeover in this recipe including either whole kernels of fresh summer corn or canned corn. Spice it up with some cumin or chili powder.

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Chocolate Brioche Swirl Loaf

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Choose the uber-rich chocolate loaf, or try the sun-dried tomato pesto variation (it tastes like pizza!). The recipes come from Ellen King of Hewn bakery in Evanston, Illinois.

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Whipped Fresh Herb Butter

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Homemade butter is a great conversation starter; your friends won't believe you made it from scratch! This fresh, herby version from Urban Roots Farm in Springfield, Missouri, is perfect for melting over sweet corn or spreading on bread.

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Brioche Hamburger Buns

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It's impossible to beat a burger served on a soft, pillowy brioche bun. This recipe (from Hewn bakery in Evanston, Illinois) makes a big batch, so you can keep a stash in the freezer for several meals.

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Cornmeal Biscuits

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Cornmeal adds crunch, and basil adds flavor to these biscuits from our Test Kitchen. They make a tasty accompaniment to any soup.

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Four-Grain Rolls

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Blend rye flour, all-purpose flour, rolled oats, bran cereal and molasses for golden, tasty rolls. The recipe comes from a northwest Minnesota reader who earned a reputation at the Pennington County Fair for blue-ribbon food.

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North Woods Rye Bread

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This hearty raisin-rye bread is based on an old Swedish recipe. Try serving it warm, topped with honey or butter.

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By The editors of MidwestLiving.com