My Grandma’s Italian Bread is an easy homemade bread recipe made with flour, water, yeast, salt, some sugar, and shortening. It’s got the perfect crust, crunchy with a slight chewiness and is so incredibly soft and delightful on the inside. It’s also a delicious way to sop up the leftover sauce when paired with my mother’s lasagna!
This bread is great out of the oven slathered with butter, as a side with your favorite pasta dinner, used for your panini sandwich at lunch or even toasted for breakfast!
I grew up eating this bread at my grandparent’s house growing up so often that I honestly don’t remember a time when she didn’t have a loaf in her kitchen.
Baking Bread Recipes
She made two loaves just about every week. We ate it with her Chicken Cacciatore, Manhattan Clam Chowder and with just about every dinner.
You know those dishes that instantly transport you back in time? The ones you enjoyed so much over so many years that no matter how long it’s been, one taste sends you right back to childhood?
This Italian Bread is that for me. I remember barely being able to wait for it to cool before stealing a slice and slathering it all over with butter to eat right at the kitchen counter.
Basic Italian Bread Recipe
The butter would just melt into the small holes of the bread, it’d be warm and my hands would get greasy as I savored every. single. bite.
That slightly chewy crust and soft insides still make me swoon. Memories of Grandma’s kitchen will always hold a very special place in my heart.
To this day, I still see her standing at the counter kneading the dough on the wooden board that I now proudly own. I’d peek at the dough rising in the oven in the green bowl (oh, how I wish I had that relic), and would then watch it bake through the oven window.
Banana Bread Recipe With Shortening
And the smell. That incredible, incredible aroma of freshly baked homemade Italian bread just completely permeated every air molecule in the house, intoxicating me and casting me under its spell.
It was waiting for the dough to not only rise, but then to also wait for the final countdown for it to come out of the oven. That darn timer would not go off fast enough!
When she did cut me a piece, and before she buttered it, I always had to hold it up to my nose to smell the yeasty goodness. Oh, how wonderful it was. Deep, deep long breaths I’d take, enjoying each and every moment.
Homemade Vegan Bread
To this day, when I get fresh bread or even pizza crust, I have to smell it. The kids think I’m weird, but it’s something I’ll never stop doing.
Even though I didn’t bake with her often, I know without a doubt that my grandmother’s kitchen is where my love for food began. All that can be done in a kitchen began to grow in my imagination in those moments.
Looking back now, I so wish I’d paid more attention and spent more time with her, learning her secrets, writing down all of her recipes.
Italian Casatiello Napoletano
When I started my original 365 Days of Baking project, I had two recipe cards for my Grandma’s Italian Bread that I’d found in my mother’s recipe box. I was very excited when I came across them.
There were so many of Grandma’s recipes I’d never get to make but at least I held the secrets to this beautiful perfect crusty Italian bread! So I thought.
I read through the list of ingredients and instructions and my heart sank. The recipe card stopped after it said to knead for about 7 minutes.
Crispy Italian Bread Recipe
There were no instructions as to how long this bread dough supposed to rise, rest, or bake. No inclination of what temperature to set my oven, no tips for how to shape a perfect loaf.
Wanted to make and share with my family. There’s something about sharing that experience of how delicious the freshly baked bread truly is.
Until I found what turned out to be the “rest” of the recipe over at Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. When I saw that I knew that those instructions would probably work well with my Grandma’s Italian Bread recipe too.
Crusty Italian Bread
So, the ingredients and the beginning of the directions for this homemade Italian bread are Gram’s while the finishing touches come from Mel. Combining the two recipes across decades made for a loaf that’s just like the ones I enjoyed all those years ago.
Or a similar pan made of metal while baking the bread. Don’t ignore her and use your glass baking pan! Do you know what will happen if you put a glass pan into a 450 degree F. oven and then pour hot water into it just before baking the bread?
There’s just something about making a loaf of homemade bread – the kneading, the baking. I just find it so comforting, don’t you?
Italian Bread Using A Bread Machine Recipe
Bread can turn any dish into a full meal. Like I mentioned before, my favorite way to eat this bread is with plain old butter. It’s also so good with a dipping oil like this Restaurant-Style Olive Oil and Balsamic Dipping Oil.
Put this bread on the table as a side for One-Pot Sausage Linguini or spaghetti with Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs. The bread is excellent for soaking up all that good sauce leftover on your plate!
Slices of homemade bread are excellent with Pepperoni Pizza Pasta and Chicken Mozzarella Pasta, too. Try it with Stuffed Shells or Chicken Piccata for an Italian fest!
Awesome Homemade Crusty Bread (bread Machine) Recipe
It is perfect for dipping into sauces and soups, too! We love eating it when I make thisHomemade Chicken Noodle Soup. Pairing both of them together makes a meal
Whenever we’re making jambalaya, I bust out my recipe for Corn Spoon Bread. Like a cross between a casserole and bread pudding, it’s a side dish that pairs well with southern and cajun inspired meals.
Looking for a good breakfast bread recipe? Say hello toEnglish Muffin Bread! It has those little airy pockets that catch melty butter beautifully just like an English muffin.
Fabulous French Bread
Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls are a recipe you need to make right now! Covered in cinnamon honey butter, they’re some of the best rolls to ever come out of my kitchen. Eating one of these is like biting into a sweet fluffy cloud.
Lately, I’ve been all about theseAsiago Herb Biscuits and if you like Italian flavors I know you’ll love those fresh homemade biscuits just as much.
This recipe from my childhood, my Grandma's Italian Bread is soft on the inside with a crunchy crust. It is a bread you will be making over and over again.
Italian Bread Recipe: How To Make It
This recipe makes two loaves. Instead of using the dry yeast from a jar, you can also use 1 package of dry yeast which will yield you the amount needed. For rising, I usually turn my oven to the lowest temperature and then turn it off before I place the dough into the oven to rise.
Serving: 1 serving | Calories: 158 kcal | Carbohydrates: 32 g | Protein: 4 g | Fat: 1 g | Saturated Fat: 0.2 g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3 g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3 g | Trans Fat: 0.1 g | Sodium: 294 mg | Potassium: 47 mg | Fiber: 1 g | Sugar: 0.3 g | Vitamin C: 0.001 mg | Calcium: 8 mg | Iron: 2 mg
Lasagnais a hearty comfort food that just about everyone loves. It’s begging to be served to your crowd with a salad and a loaf of crusty homemade Italian bread.Skillet Spinach Lasagna is another take on lasagna I can’t recommend enough.
Easy Italian Bread Recipe
I can’t say enough good things about this Crockpot Pork Ragu. A pasta dish that can be made in the slow cooker on a busy day makes dinner time so convenient.
And what pairs better with homemade Italian bread than a piping hot bowl of Creamy Tomato Basil Soup? A few slices of bread with this tangy creamy soup are all I need on a chilly night.
I used to rate everything I baked on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best. This Grandma’s Italian Bread recipe definitely earned 4 rolling pins!!
Easy Italian Bread
365 Days of Baking and More is a participant in the Amazon Services, LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.What is commonly known as Italian Bread in the states is something like French Bread but typically softer. The dough typically contains some olive oil and dairy to soften things up, and instead of steaming the oven to maximize crust you brush the crust with water before placing it in the oven which keeps it softer and chewier. It is the perfect spongy bread for mopping up pasta sauces, and quite good on its own.
This is based on the recipe from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. I used a preferment: he does not. I'm not sure if it made a difference or not, but the way I made it turned out quite good.
Makes 2 large 2 pound loaves Preferment: 1 cup
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