12 Holiday Bread Recipes From Challah to Panettone
Celebrate a holiday bread tradition from Israel, Italy, Germany, or the Philippines with these recipes.
Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Shell Royster
Braided, spiced, studded, and banana-wrapped breads have become holiday traditions across America with influences from around the world. Savor time for a baking project and celebrate the season with Italian panettone, German stollen, Filipino bibingka, and Jewish babka or challah. Serve warm loaves and slices at your holiday gatherings to break special bread with your loved ones.
Stollen
Jordan Provost / Food Styling by Thu Buser
Stollen is a traditional German Christmas bread filled with dried fruit, including raisins and orange peel, that has been soaked in brandy or rum. The Great American Baking Show winner Martin Sorge based this recipe on a traditional Dresdner Stollen — the pinnacle of the yeasted fruitcake-like bread.
Panettone
Toasted hazelnuts and softened chocolate make Publican baker Greg Wade's rich, buttery Italian panettone a favorite during the holidays.
Challah Bread
Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Shell Royster
Scented with honey and baked to a golden brown, this tender challah bread from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen is ideal for a big meal. The recipe gives you one large or two small loaves, and you can stash an extra challah in the freezer for up to three months.
Bibingka Banana Bread
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Christina Daley
Bibingka is traditionally made for holiday gatherings in the Philippines. Baked in a banana leaf, chef and caterer Woldy Kusina's dessert is both sweet and salty because of the salted duck egg inside and a sharp cheddar cheese topping.
Cinnamon-Apple Babka
Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Ali Ramee / Prop Styling by Christina Daley
Cinnamon-Apple BabkaThis utterly decadent babka from the F&W Test Kitchen combines a gooey, buttery cinnamon bun with the flavors of apple pie.
Jessamyn's Sephardic Challah
Unlike the eggy challahs of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe, this version comes from the Sephardic Jews of the Mediterranean, who flavored their challahs with caraway and anise. Hot Bread Kitchen founder Jessamyn Waldman twists hers into a round, turban-shaped loaf.
Halvah-Stuffed Challah
Blogger Molly Yeh fills this braided bread with a mix of halvah (the confection made with crushed sesame seeds and honey) and tahini, and then sprinkles on sesame seeds.
Pain d'Épices
This hearty, deeply spiced gingerbread loaf from French cook and writer Mimi Thorisson has a wonderful honey-buckwheat flavor.
Cranberry Gingerbread
With plenty of tart and tangy fresh cranberries, former F&W Test Kitchen senior editor Kay Chun's loaf is perfect sliced, spread with sweet butter, and served alongside a cup of hot tea.
Gingerbread with Pears
Former test kitchen editor Diana Sturgis folds dices of a Bartlett pear into the batter before baking a loaf of gingerbread.
Chocolate Babka
Pastry chef Melissa Weller's sweet yeasted dough enriched with eggs and pure butter puts this babka in the brioche category. The treat gets extra flavor from cookie crumbs and a thick, luscious chocolate glaze.
Raisin-Walnut Babka
Melissa Weller swirls this light and buttery babka with a golden raisin puree, studs it with dark raisins and walnuts, and tops it with a luscious cinnamon glaze.
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