Yeast

Traditional biscuits are so intimidating to novices in part because most recipes require you to make them at the last minute. I wanted to come up with something anyone can do, and this is it. The yeast makes the day! The dough is easy to work with, and both dough and baked biscuit can be made ahead.

Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

These all-American rolls are so flaky and buttery that everyone will want seconds. Be sure to begin preparing the dough a day before serving because it needs to be refrigerated overnight.

Try this recipe, inspired by a visit to a pizza truck in Normandy!

Don't be put off by what might look like a complicated technique. It takes more time to describe how to make Parma braids than it does to actually assemble them. Slightly salty and very buttery, these savory croissants are hard to resist. Active time: 2 hr Start to finish: 18 hr

To make this bread easier to prepare, shape the dough into two loaves after the second rising instead of forming braided loaves, as is traditional. Place each loaf in a buttered 9x5x3-inch loaf pan and continue as per recipe.

(Pompe à l'Huile)

These really do taste like pretzels, but they're shaped like regular dinner rolls. Quick-rising yeast makes them a cinch to prepare, and boiling them before baking is the secret to their superb texture.

Potatoes lend moistness, and caraway seeds and onions--two ingredients favored by German, Scandinavian and Eastern European immigrants--add flavor to these traditionally shaped rolls.

This no-knead, one-rise bread was introduced by Doris Grant in her book Your Daily Bread. This recipe is an improved version devised by Myrtle Allen, founder of the now legendary Ballymaloe House hotel and cooking school in County Cork, Ireland.