Breads

Beer-Cheese Bread

TQuick, easy, and very tasty, this bread can be in the oven in minutes and on the table in an hour. With a pot of soup and perhaps a salad, you’ve got a full meal.

Blueberry Biscuits

These are a “copycat” version of the “Bo-berry biscuits” sold by the fried chicken chain Bojangles (found throughout the American southeast). They look like they’d be incredibly sweet, but they’re salty and buttery like a good biscuit should be, with a faint sweetness, juicy blueberries, deliciously crispy edges, and a tart, sugary glaze.

Butter-Dips

These come from an old Betty Crocker cookbook and my mom made them all the time when I was a kid. They are ridiculously good.

Cranberry Bread

This is basically just the recipe from the back of a bag of cranberries. It’s so simple and delicious, there’s not much to improve on.

Easy Naan

Authentic naan bread is cooked on the inner surface of a tandoor oven. This easy dough produces a tasty approximation by cooking the bread on a cast iron skillet like a tortilla. The finished bread is a patchwork of chewy, tender bread and crispy, flaky spots.

Flour Tortillas

My mom got this recipe from someone here in town a long time ago, and I found it handwritten in her Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook. I honestly don’t make tortillas very often — living in San Antonio, I can easily buy tortillas that are far better than anything I could make — but these are very tasty. Practice makes perfect!

No-Knead Bread

This method is justly famous — you have to plan for the time required, but the actual work is extremely minimal and easy.

Pizza Dough

This dough is easy to make and pliable enough to make very thin pizzas without tearing or getting soggy. Use plenty of olive oil when shaping the dough for a beautifully crisp bottom.

Rosemary Popovers

These are easy, beautiful, and an unusual side dish that will be most welcome alongside anything with a delicious gravy or sauce to mop up. A heavy popover pan will produce the very traditional shape, but a nonstick muffin tin will absolutely work just as well.