This classic Italian bread recipe is soft and tender on the inside with a chewy crust on the outside. Homemade bread doesn’t get much better — or simpler — than this!
(NOTE: This post was originally published in 2014 (!). We’ve since then updated it with new photos, but it’s the same recipe you know and love.)
Sometimes I wish I had one of those potions from Alice in Wonderland so I can make myself small enough to lay on a slice of this Italian bread like a pillow. A heavenly soft, carbolicious pillow.
Rustic Italian Bread
But seriously, how wonderful would that be? Because not only are you totally comfy-cozy, you also have a snack right there to munch on as needed. And then when you want to eat the bread as a sandwich or make it into a yummy baked French toast or strata or something, you can take the potion that makes you big again. It’s perfect.
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I am fairly certain that whenever I went to my grandma and grandpa’s house as a kid, my snack diet consisted of snap peas from the garden, kohlrabi stalks (no, really, so good) and sliced Italian bread from the bakery plain or with my grandmother’s plum jam on it (that is truly one of the best things about life ever, and I hope I can get the recipe one day to share it with you). So when Red Star Yeast asked me to make a loaf of Italian bread using their yeast, I was happy to take it on because nostalgia. And homemade bread. It was a no-brainer.
Basic Italian Bread Recipe
I was a little nervous that my recipe wouldn’t taste quite the same as what I remembered eating as a youth — that soft, aforementioned pillowy center with a perfectly chewy, flaky crust — but my friends, this recipe is just that and it is a glorious thing. It really doesn’t take much time, effort or ingredients to get there, either. Just a little:
So in conclusion, I’ll be making a loaf of this bread on the regular this fall and the Season That Shall Not Be Named. And it will be taking any and all of the following forms: Sandwich, strata, bread pudding, French toast, baked French toast casserole, croutons, grilled cheese, toast. Surely I am missing more options, but that’s just for starters.
Of course, just eating slice after slice plain (as I may or may not have done once this loaf was cool enough to cut into) is going to happen a lot, too.
Crispy Italian Bread Recipe
If this crisp-cool weather (or in my great state of Minnesota, the weird summer-after-fall weather we’ll be having) has got you bit by the baking bug as it has me, then put this easy homemade Italian bread on your list. You can thank me for it later, with a sandwich. For dessert, keep things going with this Nostalgic Banana Bread!This easy homemade Italian bread needs only 4 simple ingredients. It makes the most amazing loaf of bread with a fluffy center and extra crusty exterior! The perfect side for soups and sauces.
A-maz-ing. That is the only way to describe this rustic Italian bread. It is dense and wonderfully chewy on the outside while being super soft and fluffy on the inside. When I am asked to bring bread to dinner at a friend's, I always make this because it is stunning.
There's something magical about simple ingredients like flour, water, salt, and yeast working together with time. This bread tastes just like any good loaf of crusty bread you'd find at a high end bakery but you can make it at home.
Italian Herb Bread Recipe
A sponge is amagicallittle concoction of flour, yeast, and water that you make the day before and let sit for 24 hours before making the bread. You simply mix those three things together in a bowl and let it sit. The sitting is what leads to the magic. It is then added in with the rest of the ingredients when you make the loaf of bread.
The sponge adds this amazing (and hard todescribe) flavor and also does something magical to the gluten. The texture of the bread is so soft and chewy in the middle while the crust is still dense and delicious. The taste of this Italian bread is amazing and the texture cannot be matched.
This Italian bread recipe will scare you a bit at first, but once you make it the first time, you will make it again and again. I love making slow foods like this. There's something very therapeutic about taking your time with simple ingredients, especially when the end result is so delicious.
Ciabatta Bread Recipe • Ciao Florentina
Most people think these two breads are basically the same, but they vary quite a bit. They are different is size, shape, and ingredients. French bread is long and thin while Italian bread is shorter and rounder in nature. French bread typically has a hard crust while Italian bread is chewier.
Rustic Italian Bread made with only 4 simple ingredients and some time, which makes the most amazing loaf of bread. The outside is extra crusty and the center is wonderfully fluffy and light.
I'm telling you what - make this once and you'll be making it over and over again. It's such a great crusty bread recipe and it's a whole lot of fun to make, too.
Easy Italian Bread
First, you make a sponge which is just flour, water, and a tiny bit of yeast. Then you let it sit for 6-24 hours. Once it has sat for the recommended time, you mix up the dough and add the sponge.
This will be your go-to Italian bread recipe because it is soft on the inside, chewy on the outside, and compliments any meal perfectly.
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Lewis Bake Shop Half Loaf Italian Bread, 1/2 Loaf, 12 Oz.
Melissa is dedicated to helping parents figure out the nightly questions, What's for Dinner?! with her no-fuss approach to cooking. Read more...Homemade Italian bread is actually very easy to make and tastes delicious! While you could buy a loaf of Italian bread from the grocery store, baking bread is fun and satisfying. Warm, toasty bread from the oven is pure comfort food.
I love my 1963 homemade white bread for sandwiches and everything peasant bread for snacking, but this Italian loaf is perfect with a bowl of spaghetti, or alongside a plate of my crockpot roast beef!
There’s a definite difference between French bread and Italian bread. Most of the general population either doesn’t know or simply doesn’t care, but there are differences nonetheless.
Ingredient Homemade Italian Bread Recipe
Basically though, French bread only uses flour, yeast, salt, and water. In fact, French law states that added oils or fats are prohibited. A French loaf is usually long and thin, while an Italian loaf is shorter and wider.
In this section I like to provide tips and recommendations about the different ingredients used. I also try to answer questions about substitutions. You will find the full list of ingredients with measurements in the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
You can freeze the dough for up to 3 months. If kept in the fridge, the yeast will continue to grow, even if it’s slowly. This can be done for about a day, but I wouldn’t do it much longer than that. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and store in freezer bags. When ready to bake, remove from the freezer and thaw at room temperature. It will take about 4 hours to thaw. Then bake according to the recipe.
One Hour Bread: Fast & Easy Italian Bread Recipe
A NOTE ABOUT YEAST: You can use either active dry yeast or instant yeast. If you use active dry yeast it needs to be proofed in order for it to be reactivated. Instant dry yeast doesn’t need proofing. Active dry yeast must be reactivated by proofing in warm water, or the bread won’t rise properly. This process is the prove that the yeast is still alive.
Several people have asked if this Italian bread can be prepared in a bread machine. We were able to test it successfully and have provided the instructions below. Please note, the preparation of the dough is in the bread machine, but you will still remove the dough, form a loaf, and bake it in your conventional oven.
There are plenty of dinners that we like to eat this homemade bread with, and they aren’t all Italian meals! I’ve been known to sop up the juices of my favorite pork sirloin roast using a hunk of this bread.
Chewy French Bread For Soup
A big bowl of Italian Sausage Tomato Orzo Soup or my Cheddar Cheese Potato Soup screams for a piece of warm, buttered bread. It’s also amazing with this Zuppa Toscana for those Olive Garden fans out there! Another dinnertime favorite is this Chicken Cacciatore, and it’s great to have a hunk of bread for dipping into the sauce.
Never baked bread before?
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