Let's start the Thanksgiving meal right, with the best rolls, biscuits, and cornbread we can find.
Dunsmoor's Sour Milk Cornbread with Cheddar and Anaheim Chilies
What's the key to great cornbread? You need a hot pan, says chef Brian Dunsmoor. His version, which is based on a recipe by Edna Lewis, one of the greats of Southern cooking, incorporates Anaheim chilies (or Hatch, if you've got 'em), cheddar cheese, and butter. Lots and lots of butter. Get the recipe
Marjoram Cornbread
Chef Jerry Traunfeld, author of The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor, helps us cook with fresh farm ingredients. His book explores how we can use herbs in our kitchens at home, including in cornbread. Get the recipe
Dr. Carver's Sweet Potato Biscuits
Ever since Booker T. Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute in 1881, the small Southern town of Tuskegee, Alabama has been a mecca for African Americans. In 1999, Carolyn Quick Tillery wrote The African-American Heritage Cookbook: Traditional Recipes and Fond Remembrances From Alabama's Renowned Tuskegee Institute. There's a 25th anniversary of the book and it features this from peanut and sweet potato expert George Washington Carver. Get the recipe
April McGreger's Sweet Potato Biscuits
We can't talk about Thanksgiving without talking about biscuits. Fresh out of the oven, sweet potato biscuits give you the warm, fluffy goodness of a buttermilk biscuit with an added touch of sweetness. Baker April McGreger grew up on a sweet potato farm in "the self-proclaimed sweet potato capital of the world" of Vardaman, Mississippi. In addition to authoring an entire book devoted to these tubers — Sweet Potatoes — McGreger has done considerable research into how biscuits have changed in the past century. Get the recipe
Kabocha Squash Dinner Rolls
For this recipe, Roxana Jullapat, co-owner and pastry chef at Friends & Family, cuts the squash in half and puts 1/2 cup of water on the baking tray to speed up the cooking time. These Kabocha Squash Dinner Rolls are also the basis for Dan Mattern's Kabocha Squash Stuffing. Get the recipe
Boiled down blackberries and fresh biscuits evoke poet Crystal Wilkinson's childhood. Photo by Kelly Marshall.
Praisesong Biscuits
Crystal Wilkinson has been baking biscuits all her life. In her book Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, which teases out a complex web of attachment to Black Appalachia, she presents this recipe, which she spent years perfecting. "An ideal biscuit has a slightly crisp crust paired with a tender softness inside and can hold up to jelly or gravy or a small piece of meat for a tasty morsel of a sandwich," she explains. The key is not to overwork the dough. Get the recipe
Kristina Cho's Milk Bread
Chinese bakeries in Hong Kong became popular by offering British-influenced breads, teas, custards, and tarts melded with popular ingredients like mango. Similar to other enriched doughs such as challah and brioche, milk bread is set apart by the addition of tangzhong, a milk and flour roux. Kristina Cho turned her love of sweet and savory pastries into a blog, Eat Cho Food, and an award-winning cookbook, Mooncakes and Milk Bread, which features this milk bread recipe. Get the recipe
Barley & Miso Bread
This bread, developed by baker Jim Lahey, who owns Sullivan St. Bakery (which has two locations in New York City and one in Miami), derives its saltiness from miso paste, which provides a complex and nutty multifermented flavor. The miso also acts as a catalyst for fermentation by adding enzymes and nutrients to the fermenting dough. You can use any combination of flours and the bread can be stored well for up to five days. Get the recipe