21 Satisfying Breakfast Breads To Start Your Morning

Bread. It's pillowy, it's comforting, it's warm, it's soft, and well...it's downright delicious. Better yet, you can just as easily produce something wonderful with the essentials as you can a myriad of add-ins. After all, what’s a loaf of quick bread without a crumbly streusel or nutty oat topping?

Whether you’re blooming some yeast for a recipe in your bread machine or whipping up a yeast-free loaf, for many of us, bread makes the world go round. (As it should). And so, it's only right then, that we begin our day by, well, breaking bread! In recent years, the go-to bread of choice has been banana bread, but there are plenty of options including buttery scones and biscuits, flaky croissants and pillowy cinnamon rolls.

And who could forget an old favorite — the humble muffin? There's no better way to welcome the day than with some Good Morning Muffins, courtesy of Ree herself. Simple, yet spectacular, laced with a hint of orange marmalade and freshly squeezed orange juice for some 'wake up' energy, these are the perfect start to the day.

Think of the most luxurious pastry you've ever eaten. Dressed in your Sunday best, you're sitting down to a table, piled high, with baskets brimming with utter luxury. Cold dishes of the purest butter and mason jars of handcrafted jams and jellies surround a basket of — you guessed it — croissants. (Now, all you have to do is buy that ticket to Paris, and you can get yourself one!)

We're lucky that all across America, there are great bakeries doing croissants...and possibly every croissant-hybrid you can think of, from the cronut to the cruffin. But sometimes you want the finesse without the fuss, and that's what this recipe brings you: croissants, unadultered. The recipe is easy enough to guide you through the folding and layering process, but the indulging in glorious croissant consumption? That's all you.

Have you ever met a biscuit you didn't like? Be honest. The answer is: probably not. What's not to like? Carbs? Good. Butter? Great. Buttermilk? Even better. Add on a scoop of sausage gravy and you've got yourself a Sunday brunch you can't beat. Carla makes heavy claims with these biscuits, comparing them to the OG Popeye's...we'll let you be the judge of that. But we can guarantee that they're 100% freakin' delicious, every single time.

People often overlook zucchini bread, when they're thinking of quick, breakfast loaves. But the truth is, in this day and age of everyone trying to sneak veggies into their kids' (and their own) diets, there's no easier way to do it than zucchini bread. This recipe packs in one large zucchini, fresh from your summer bounty, ensuring that each bite is packed with shreds of vegetal goodness — and your kids won't even know. All you have to do? Shred, dump and stir. Then, let the oven, and your mouth, do the work.

Go down South and everyone's abuzz about peaches. Whether it's in the blazing Georgia summer heat or down in the Sunshine State, there's nothing that hits quite like a ripe, juicy peach in the summertime. And no one knows that better than Kardea Brown. That's why she celebrates the juicy beauty of ripe peaches all year round with these luscious scones. They don't skimp on the heavy cream (which keeps them moist), and they sure don't skimp on satisfaction.

Every family has a cinnamon lover. Whether it's Big Red gum or lacing all their coffees with a smattering of cinnamon, they're all about it...and don't even get us started on cinnamon rolls. Cinnamon lovers just can't get enough! Nowadays, a lot of pastries are flavored with other things like orange zest or spices, but we believe, when it comes to cinnamon rolls, classic is best. (And don't worry, these may be called 'buns,' but they're the good ol' rolls you know and love.)

It's a non-negotiable: In the morning, coffee is essential. Ask the Gilmore Girls! And well, every cup of 'joe must be paired with some sustenance! That's where Ina's plump, blueberry-studded coffee cake muffins come into play. Moistened with a mixture of eggs, unsalted butter, and a cup of tangy sour cream, they're designed to melt in your mouth. Just be careful that they don't melt into your coffee!

Scones are an under-appreciated entity here in America. Sure, fly to England and whether en route, in Heathrow's sprawling airport or at one of London's many charming high tea spreads, you'll be met with these triangular, three-dimensional — shall we say it? — vehicles for jam and England's main gift to the culinary world: clotted cream. But here in the US, they're often forgotten...that is, until autumn rolls around, and the apple picking begins. Then? It's apple cinnamon time.

With that, come these apple cinnamon scones that celebrate everything good there can be about the leaves changing color, the weather getting slightly chillier and sweaters being favored over t-shirts. Use Granny Smiths or bright Honeycrisp, it's totally up to your tastebuds, but there's no denying that these are absolutely delectable.

Everyone has their preference when it comes to croissants. Some favor a more middle-of-the-road approach — a blank canvas that goes as well with some strawberry jam as it does as the base of a hearty breakfast sandwich. Some love to go whole hog: those are the pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) lovers. And then there are the almond croissant aficionados. We like to think of this group as those with delicate palates and nuanced tongues, for a lot of these almond-laden delights are slow burns: never too sweet and always buttery enough. Almond croissants are for the sophisticated! This recipe adds an extra layer of complexity with a tart, fruity twist: raspberries! Paired with a simple spiced rum syrup, they offer a little extra kick to your morning.

There are breads...and then there are desserts. This bread definitely toes the line of both. It's an excuse to enjoy chocolate for breakfast, and who ever doesn't want one of those? The trick to this recipe is dusting the cherries in cocoa powder first before adding them to the batter. Not only does this allow the two flavors to play well together, but it prevents the cherries from sinking down to the bottom of the loaf as it bakes, allowing for an even dispersion of cherries in every hefty, chocolatey bite you take.

When we think of the combination of tart, juicy blueberries with equally tart, acidic, fresh lemon, we picture vineyards. And Italy. And it's very possible that that's what Tyler Florence pictures, too. These scones very well could be an homage to his heritage, bringing the two flavors together with a simple, four-ingredient lemon glaze sprinkled with bright lemon zest. What else do you need to brighten up a morning?

Unless you're a baker, Jewish, are from New York — or some combination of the three — there's a possibility you've never heard of babka. A buttery dough twisted with a sweet filling, babka is the perfect 'snacking bread'. Tyler's version gives babka the cinnamon roll treatment by adding a filling studded with golden raisins and glazing the loaf with a delicate icing sugar finish. It pairs great with coffee in the morning, but we wouldn't be surprised if you decided to snack on it all day long.

The food of the South has so much to offer...biscuits, for one. But also, sweet potatoes (Sweet potato casserole — a dish that stakes its claims in Southern cuisine— is one of the many hallmarks of good soul food.) And when you put the biscuits and sweet potatoes together? Magical. That's what you get with Trisha Yearwood's sweet potato biscuits that meld all of that buttery comfort of fall into one bite.

Chocolate croissants are not for the faint of heart. Packed with a dark and decadent punch, the flaky, yeasted bread is the ideal vessel to deliver what you're really there for: the chocolate. Molly's version of the traditional pain au chocolat requires a bit of time and technical expertise, but her recipe will walk you through the process, step-by-step. Your reward? Buttery croissant wrapped around a rich bit of chocolate bar, warm from the oven.

Quick breads are the easiest recipes to get young kids involved with — in fact, they're how many of us first started baking! They're a cinch to whip up, too: dry ingredients in one bowl, an amalgamation of wet ingredients in another bowl, all thrown together, laced with vanilla and baked into one magical, beautiful creation. Better yet: there's no yeast (or rise) involved, so you don't have to worry about fancy techniques or compromising the structural integrity. And well, who doesn't think of a quintessential banana bread when thinking of quick breads? This one's studded with walnuts, but feel free to omit those if you've got a nut allergy at home, or add in a few handfuls of chocolate chips for something a little more decadent.

These classic French pastries are buttery, flaky and sweet with a famously caramelized flavor and attractive flower shape. Originating in Brittany, kouign amann are traditionally baked as round loaves or cakes and sliced to serve. In North America however, they’re more often individual cupcake-size pastries — sometimes called “kouignettes” — with an iconic flower shape and lots of surface area for extra crunch. Like croissants, these pastries use a laminated dough, meaning butter is encased in pastry dough and then put through a series of rolling and folding steps resulting in hundreds of individual layers. Sugar is also sprinkled between the layers to give the pastries their signature caramel flavor and crispness. The process takes a bit of time and care but the results are stunningly flaky pastries with deep flavor from just a few humble ingredients. The amount of salt used in the dough may seem like a lot but is key to their balanced, not-too-sweet flavor. In this recipe we bake the treats in one muffin pan at a time and alternate cavities to ensure they turn golden without touching each other, key to their perfectly crunchy, browned crust. They make a satisfying breakfast, treat with coffee or dessert.

When most people think 'muffin,' half the time they're thinking: it's an icing-less cupcake. And with some muffins, they're not wrong! But the truth is, muffins can be — and have been — so much more. Many people forget about savory muffins. That's right, muffins like these, filled with breakfast sausage, studded with bites of pungent scallions and laced with sharp shredded Cheddar cheese that sing of the breakfast sandwich you, perhaps, wish you woke up to. That's before you took a bite of these, at least.

Everybody loves banana bread. We've said it once, and we'll say it again: there's just something about it, from the way the aroma fills your kitchen to, in all honesty, how many overripe bananas you can avoid wasting by throwing them into a loaf of homemade goodness. But sometimes you need banana bread on-the-go, and that's where these muffins come in: bite-sized nuggets of banana bread! Ok, ok...more than a bite.

Dill doesn't get enough of the spotlight. It sometimes gets lost in a garden of heavy hitters — thyme, chives, rosemary, sage — and often times, it only gets to shine in everyone's favorite dressing: Ranch. Perhaps Ina thought so too, which is why she's added a healthy helping of dill to these scones. It adds to a vegetal, earthy flavor and contrasts beautiful with the mounds of Cheddar nuggets studded throughout.

It's time to go on a date...a date with some delicious (date) bread. Ok, sorry for the Dad joke, but you probably haven't given enough thought to nature's natural sweeteners. They bring so much flavor wherever they're added.

You might have only enjoyed these bad boys topped with peanut butter and a sprinking of chocolate chips or shredded coconut (a little Dubai delicacy that's taken the Internet by storm recently), but what about sweetening your bread with, that's right, dates? This recipe from Hawa Hasan celebrates the beauty of this fruit, which is often used to break one's fast after a long day during the holy month of Ramadan. The bread takes it one step further, and can be enjoyed, as Hawa says, with a cup of hot coffee or tea and topped with a slightly smear of a soft, neutral cheese.