Staple family

Bread, Toast & Pizza

Yeast, ovens, and the everyday loaf.

Bread, Toast & Pizza dishes, photographed from above

Bread asks you to read the dough instead of the clock. Room temperature, flour brand and humidity all shift the schedule by an hour, so the useful signals are a domed surface, a slow spring-back when pressed, and a hollow sound from the base. This chapter starts with a plain sandwich loaf, then moves to a no-knead country bread, a hot-oven pizza and the small griddle classics that use up yesterday's slices.

In this chapter

6 recipes

Filter this family
A golden-crusted sandwich loaf on a wooden board with one clean slice showing the even pale crumb and a scatter of sesame seeds on top

Everyday Sandwich Loaf

A soft, fine-crumbed white loaf baked in a tin for even slices, with a pale golden crust that stays tender enough for weekday sandwiches and toast for nearly a week.

55 minBakeMedium
A round, dark-mahogany country loaf with a cracked, flour-dusted crust on a board, a cut wedge showing the open, holey crumb

No-Knead Country Bread

A shaggy, barely mixed dough left overnight develops a blistered, crackling crust and an open, chewy crumb in a covered pot, with almost no hands-on work.

55 minBakeEasy
Two thick golden slices of cinnamon French toast on a plate with a pat of butter melting on top and a handful of red berries

Cinnamon French Toast

Thick bread slices soaked in a cinnamon-vanilla egg custard, pan-fried in butter until the edges caramelise and the centres stay soft, served with berries and a little maple.

22 minPan-fryEasy
Six pale-golden round scones on a lined tray with a clean side split, served with a dish of berry jam and thick cream

Classic British Scones

Rubbed butter, cold milk and a light hand produce tall, crumbly scones with a pale golden top and a clean split, ready for jam and thick cream within half an hour.

30 minBakeMedium
A thin round Margherita pizza with a blistered spotted rim, pools of melted mozzarella, red tomato and fresh basil leaves on a tray

Margherita Pizza at Home

A thin hand-stretched dough baked fast on a hot tray with crushed tomato, torn mozzarella and basil, giving a blistered rim and a centre that stays just slightly soft.

32 minBakeMedium
A diagonally cut grilled cheese sandwich on a plate with a deep golden crisp crust and warm cheese stretching between the halves

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Buttered bread and a melty cheese layer griddled slowly over moderate heat until the outside turns deep golden and crisp while the centre stretches into soft, hot strands.

13 minGriddleEasy
Technique note · 7 min read

Reading a Rising Dough Instead of a Clock

Temperature, yeast and the four signals that tell you when a loaf is ready to bake, long before the timer does.

Other staple families

Rice & Fried RiceCongee, Porridge & OatsNoodles EastPasta & Italian RiceDumplings & Steamed BunsFlatbreads & GriddlePotatoes & Other Staples

Cooking bread at home

The recipes above share a small set of ingredients and one or two pieces of equipment, so it is worth cooking them in sequence rather than at random. Make the simplest one first — it tells you how your pan, your flour or your rice behaves — then move on to the versions that build on it. If you are working from what is already in the kitchen, the full recipe index can filter every chapter at once by ingredient, equipment and time.