Bread

My friend Marvin Woods taught me everything I know about Low-Country cooking, the regional cuisine commonly referred to as soul food. In many ways, soul food is an apt description because there is a lot of soul and spirit and passion that goes into Low-Country cooking—dishes like she-crab soup, catfish stew, shrimp and grits, red rice, hoppin' John, and baked macaroni and cheese. No Low-Country feast would be complete without corn bread. My version is steamed in a water bath to make the bread nice and moist; covering it with aluminum foil for the last thirty minutes of cooking gives you a nice crust that isn't overly browned. Paired with tomato chutney, it's a light snack or meal on its own.

The bread basket just became a little more exciting. These savory muffins are made with white cornmeal—favored over yellow by many southern cooks—and strewn with corn kernels and shreds of cheese. Albin considered putting jalapeño into the muffins but prefers the fresher, more vibrant color and flavor it offers in the butter.

A bâtarde is a loaf of bread that is slightly thicker but shorter than a baguette. This version gets nice texture and flavor from cooked wild rice. Be sure to cook and cool the rice before making the bread.

Crumbled bacon makes an irresistible top crust on this slightly sweet cornbread.

These hearty rolls are packed with good-for-you stuff: whole wheat flour, old-fashioned oats, and wheat bran.

Any leftovers would be great for breakfast.

Get professional-looking rolls without using fancy molds.

This bread is Mickey's pride and joy. It is made by hand and has a crust on top like no other. Breadworks sells about twenty loaves every day. Try it for French toast.

Legend has it that on December 13, 1764, a gentleman in Sweden was roused in the middle of the night by a beautiful voice. He saw a young woman in white moving through his room singing. She had wings and was carrying a candle. That was Lucia the Saint. She brought light, food, and wine as comfort on what was, in the Gregorian calendar, the longest night of the year. We celebrate Saint Lucia on December 13. Children will walk with lit candles singing the beautiful Lucia carol and bringing the Lucia bread.

In the land of milk and honey, injera may be the staple, but it is not the only kind of bread. In the morning, it's dabo—honey bread—that graces the Ethiopian breakfast table. Unlike the pancakelike injera, dabo is a European-style loaf that is typically slathered with shiro, a chickpea spread. It highlights one of the distinctive characteristics of Ethiopian cooking: sweeteners are very rarely used, but an element of sweetness is introduced through other means, such as sugary coffees and teas; tej, a syrupy honey wine; or this dense breakfast bread, which lends a gentle sweetness to the start of the day.

Pita rounds spring to life after just a couple of minutes on a hot grill: The dimpled surfaces of the flatbread crisp up in a nice contrast with their soft interiors (be sure to buy the pocketless kind of pita, which is fluffier than pita that is meant to be split and stuffed). A shake of crunchy kosher salt and a brush of garlicky olive oil flecked with oregano knocks them out of the park.

These are outstanding buns, substantial yet tender. The soft sides of the top-split hot dog buns are made for grilling or toasting.

Pat: Broccoli in cornbread—who knew? But sometimes you need to go to great lengths, and be very crafty, to get your kids to eat more vegetables. The result in this instance is a moist, incredibly satisfying cornbread that gets added richness from both cottage and cheddar cheese. We call for frozen broccoli, which makes this recipe easy enough to whip together in the time it takes your oven to preheat. (You can also use 2 1/2 cups of fresh steamed broccoli.)

Grilling the pizza dough adds a smoky flavor to the crust.

Spicy, cheesy, and moist! I love this cornbread for dinner on a warm summer night, whether with barbecued meats or just a big old salad. If you don’t have Manchego, you can substitute cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Gouda.

There's character to spare in this layered flatbread, called msemmen in Arabic. The dough is rubbed with spiced oil, rolled into a spiral, flattened, and then cooked on a griddle, for a flakiness that's surprisingly substantial. Zadi likes pairing the flatbread with an acidic dish, which is why we recommend it with the <epi:recipelink id="241504"" target="_new">shrimp charmoula</epi:recipelink>; but, as he points out, the bread actually goes well with the entire meal, so plan on leaving it on the table from Start to finish.

A basket full of freshly baked rolls adds a welcoming touch to any holiday table. Combining the crunch of a cracker with the tender yeastiness of bread, these little numbers are especially fun.

At his restaurant, Ford's Filling Station, in Culver City, California, Ben Ford says he strives to serve "things that you don't necessarily identify with traditional comfort food but that give all the [same] nourishment." This signature recipe for flatbread—a very thin "pizza" with sweet shrimp, white bean hummus, melted leeks, caramelized onions, and a scattering of sharp cheese—is comforting and satisfying yet anything but bland or conventional.