Our top 10 baking recipes of 2020 featured cake, pie and a whole bunch of bread - The Washington Post

How much flour have I gone through this year? Hard to say, as there have been multiple 25- and 50-pound bags, plus a hodgepodge of five-pounders, too. Between sourdough experimenting, cookie testing and, well, everything else, let’s just say it’s been a lot.

I’m not the only one. Based on the questions we’ve been getting and the occasional empty shelves at grocery stores, we know people have been doing a lot of baking in the largely homebound 2020. Looking at our most popular baking recipes of the year, based on readership, one trend stands out: bread. That includes both yeast and sourdough baking, recipes designed for instant or delayed gratification. Overall, the list encompasses sweet and savory options, and even one dessert that doesn’t require turning on the oven.

With the holidays coming up and weather that begs for the welcome warmth of a hot oven, there’s no better time to count down our top 10 baking recipes of 2020.

10. Sourdough Pizza Margherita. Olga Massov developed this New York-style pizza dough to make use of her sourdough discard. There’s very little hands-on time, and the dough can hang out in your fridge for up to 5 days.

8. Chocolate Cream Pie. Splurge for the good chocolate for this diner-style dessert filled with luscious pudding and topped with a mountain of whipped cream.

7. Fast Focaccia. First published in early 2019, this no-knead recipe adapted from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day team picked up steam again during the pandemic thanks to the huge interest in bread baking and in our No. 1 recipe, which, well, scroll down to see!

6. Peppermint Chocolate Slices. It didn’t take long for this no-bake holiday treat, also from Edd Kimber’s new book, to surge into our top recipes.

5. Apple Sharlotka. All you need is one bowl and some pantry staples to put together this classic Russian cake, which Olga says “might be the ideal cake for these strange times.”

3. No-Knead English Muffins. This was one of the last recipes we photographed in our Food Lab before our offices closed in March, and it published right at about the point people started baking bread like crazy. Just a little yeast with a lot of time yields English muffins with truly enviable nooks and crannies (tear rather than slice them for the best cragginess).

2. Stove-Top Naan. This Indian flatbread — perfect for scooping up dal or butter chicken sauce — doesn’t even require yeast, just baking powder. In less than an hour, you’ll be pulling warm naan out of your cast-iron skillet.

1. No-Knead Olive Oil Dough (Big Batch). I took the dough from the focaccia above and scaled it up so you could make not only bread, but also pizza, calzones and cinnamon rolls. See the details here. Whether you’re a bread-baking novice or someone looking to add a few more options to your repertoire, this simple recipe is proof that no-knead is no less delicious or versatile than your standard loaf requiring more elbow grease. The dough also stores in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, which means you can get fresh bread on the table that much faster.

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