Homemade Italian Bread is a Crusty Italian Bread recipe that uses only 6 ingredients and bakes up with a soft center and a delicious chewy crust. It’s quick to make in just 2 hours!
THIS POST HAS BEEN UPGRADED FROM 4/11/17 TO IMPROVE READER EXPERIENCE.
This easy Italian bread recipe has a crusty exterior and a soft and tender melt in your mouth interior crumb. It’s quick to make in just 2 hours and uses only 6 ingredients.
I first made this Homemade Italian Bread recipe as a part of a bread challenge group that I participated in.
The theme was “Bread from Italy”. This excited me because my hubby’s papa is 100% Italian and John is half (Irish is the rest of the mix). Since I’m related by marriage to this wonderful country, homemade Italian bread should be simple right?
I’m not sure what part of Italy this Classic Italian Bread recipe comes from. If I were to guess I would say Puglia or the southern part of Italy.
John’s family is from the north so maybe that’s my excuse for flunking this Italian bread recipe the first 3 times I made it! Slow-learner me!
For my first attempt, I man-handled it and thought that was the reason it “deflated” before I had it in the oven. The second time it deflated again as soon as I scored it.
When I started researching what I could be doing wrong, I found that I was either over-proofing my bread or proofing it at too warm a temperature. I would say, I was doing both!
My biggest problem in making this “Simple” Italian bread is over-thinking it. The recipe stated to proof it for one hour for the first rise and 20 minutes for the second.
I proofed it like I do other yeast bread recipes which is 60 to 90 minutes for the first rise and 60 minutes for the second.
Also, I covered my dough with plastic wrap and set it in my oven that I had just barely warmed. I read that the air temperature for proofing bread doesn’t need to be any warmer than 70°F. Oops!
How to make Homemade Italian Bread
On the third go-around, I followed the directions to the letter. A novel idea don’t you think?
- After one hour I gently deflated it by just pushing my fingertips into it to form a rectangle and keeping some bubbles in the dough.
- Fold the dough using the bâtard method and place it on a cutting board covered with parchment paper.
- Proof for 20 minutes
- Slide the bread onto a baking stone using the parchment paper. If you don’t have a stone you can use a baking sheet turned upside down.
- For a Crusty Italian bread recipe mist the walls of the hot oven with a spray bottle filled with filtered water to create steam.
- *NOTE cover the glass of your oven door with a dish towel first. Water dripping on the glass can cause it to shatter.
After the third attempt, this Italian bread recipe came out beautifully. You can see how the scores “bloomed” which didn’t happen on the earlier attempts.
Note to self, simple can be delicious! John loved the flops, but he really loved the successful attempt!
There’s a detailed video in the recipe card.
Even though my attempts may make you think that this is a difficult bread to make. It’s not.
I just got in my own way which is generally the case. If at first you don’t succeed follow the directions.
What makes Italian Bread different?
- What is the difference between french bread and Italian bread is Italian Bread Recipes can contain milk, olive oil, and sometimes sugar that other countries such as France do not.
- Classic Italian Bread is often baked in a stone oven rather than an electric oven.
Don’t forget to pin this homemade bread recipe to your favorite board!
In my humble opinion, homemade bread is so much better than store-bought. It’s better to freeze part of a loaf than to let it go to waste.
If you can’t use this bread in one to two days, freeze it in an airtight bag and then wrap with foil. You can also revive a bread going stale.
How to Heat or Revive Homemade Italian Bread
If you’re reviving bread that’s gone a little stale or thawing frozen Italian Bread, the following tips work.
- To revive bread that’s been frozen, let it thaw uncovered at room temperature out of the bag. If the crust isn’t moist from thawing, mist it with water.
- For stale bread mist it and continue with the following.
- Put the damp bread in a 350°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Larger loaves can take a little longer and smaller Italian Baguettes take a little less.
- Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
What you can make with Italian bread
Homemade Bread Croutons or bread crumbs are amazing. Here are a few more amazing ideas!
Can I substitute All-Purpose flour for the Bread flour?
You sure can! Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour so the dough is a little tighter with smaller wholes in the crumb.
Either flour works well in this recipe. This site is helpful if you want to read up on flour and what different substitutions can make to your bread recipe.
Active Dry Yeast versus Instant Yeast
The difference is actually just the size of the granule. Active Dry Yeast has a larger granule that must be dissolved in water before using it. This is also known as proofing the yeast.
Instant Yeast, also referred to as Rapid Rise has a smaller granule and can be mixed right into your other ingredients and doesn’t need to be proofed first.
Both dry yeasts are capable of two separate rises and can be used interchangeably. The two separate rises are required with the Active Dry Yeast whereas the second rise can be skipped with the Instant Yeast.
Other additives are added to the Instant (Rapid Rise) yeast to make the dough rise faster.
Helpful Items you may need:
- Baking stone – I own this particular one because it’s large and works well for longer loaves like this one. You can use it on the grill too but I just keep it in the bottom of my oven because it’s heavy!
- Unbleached Parchment Paper – This is my favorite parchment paper. It’s important to know that there is an oven temperature rating on parchment paper. If you exceed it your parchment paper can catch fire in your oven. This one is rated to 450°F, high enough for my bread recipes.
We LOVE baking bread! You can find all of our bread recipes here!
Here are a couple more recipes that use dry yeast I think you’ll like!
- Ciabatta Bread Recipe – Made Two Ways
- Homemade Crusty Bread Recipe
- Soft Buttermilk Sandwich Bread
- Traditional Focaccia
Our most popular recipes
Homemade Italian Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2-1/4 teaspoons yeast *active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 cup warm water like bath water
- 2-1/4 cups bread flour divided
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Combine *active dry yeast, sugar, and water. Allow it to sit for approximately 5 minutes or until bubbly. If you are using instant years, there's no reason to let it sit and get bubbly.
- Add 2 cups of flour, salt, and olive oil to the yeast mixture and stir until combined with a wooden spoon.
- Lightly flour a working surface and knead bread together until soft and silky. Approximately 10 minutes. Form a ball with the dough and put it into an oiled bowl, turning the dough once so it’s oiled on both sides. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 400°F. If using a baking stone, put it in the oven while preheating.
- After 1 hour, turn the dough out onto a floured working surface. Gently deflate with your fingertips and form a rectangle. Form the dough into a batard or torpedo shape and put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Alternatively, place it on parchment paper on a hard surface like the back of the baking sheet, pizza peel, or bread board. Set it aside to rise 20 minutes.
- Score the bread 1/4″ deep with a lame or sharp knife and place the bread in the oven. Optionally spray the oven walls with filtered water to create steam.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
How about diving into bread that requires a starter? You can get started by Making Your Own Starter. The first bread that I would recommend is our Overnight Sourdough.
If you’re already into using wild yeast bread, you’ll love our Multi-Grain Wheat Bread, No-Knead Sourdough Bread, and our Spelt Sourdough bread.
Pin this Easy Italian Bread Recipe
Julie says
Followed directions and had a very wet dough, even after adding more flour the baked bread had no flavor and was dense as a brick. I have made many loaves of bread and like to try new recipes but this one is terrible.
Julie Menghini says
Hey, thanks for sharing. This isn’t a typical result. Not sure where your bread went wrong. If you’d like to expound on your comment, maybe I could help.
David M Norman says
Julie, what a great flavor! I think bath water should be about 104F and so I used that temperature H20. The dough came out VERY wet and stayed that way after 10 minutes of kneading (dough hook). Before the 1st hour was up the dough was bubbling looking very much like my starter about 3 hrs after feeding. I turned it out at about 50 minutes and it was still quite sticky. I shaped the bread, let it rise the instructed 20 min, scored it, and popped it onto the stone. Let this serve as a reminder to other rookie bakers like me. If your are going to use a stone, make sure that you have it in the oven, heating for at least an hour! The bottom of my loaf was not completely done. and I did not get a good oven spring.
Thanks for the recipe. Taste is great!
Dave N.
Julie Menghini says
Hi David! Thank you for sharing your experience. I usually don’t go as warm as 104F more like 98-99F. You refer to your starter. Did you convert this dry yeast to sourdough starter? Your tip on the stone is spot on, and another tip is to make sure it’s not so long that it’s difficult to transfer to your stone too. I appreciate your tips, Dave. You’re helping all of us.
Dave Norman says
Julie, thanks for your reply. I realized this morning that I had miss-calculated the weight of flour looking at the “ missing” 1/4 cup of flour, and had a shortage of flour in the recipe. Tried it again today with the correct amount of flour and used my dough hook for 10 minutes. The resultant loaf was still flat. I’ll try tomorrow with a 1/8 cup addition of flour and hand knead for 10 min. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Julie Menghini says
Hi Dave. Are you using a dry yeast? Also, give it a hand knead for 10 minutes and see if that will make a difference? I found in my first 2 attempts that I was working it too much.
Dave N says
Third time IS a charm. The extra 1/4 c flour added during hand kneading did the trick. Thanks
Julie Menghini says
Woo hoo Dave! I’m so glad that it worked for you.
Kathleen Pope says
Such an informative recipe, the bread turned out so delicious and I personally love that you share your flops and triumphs!
Julie Menghini says
Thank you, Kathleen! We all start as beginners, right?
Kathleen says
Hi I made this recipe and let me tell you I tried all kind of breads I didn’t care too much of it. This is the best I ever tasted and made it. I’ll be making this recipe a lots. I hope you have more recipes that is just as good as your bread are. I’m so glad I found your recipe..
Thank you
Kathleen
Julie Menghini says
Thank you, Kathleen! Let me know what you’re wanting to make and I’ll definitely add it to my must-make list.
Marilyn says
Love this bread recipe, the BEST. I think what makes it so tasty is kneading it by hand for 10 minutes rather than using a dough hook plus I baked it on a stone and I have a new oven that has the steam baked.. My question is, how do you double this recipe? How long would it need to be baked and at what temperature, how long and would you knead it first and then cut the dough in half after is rises? Thank you.
Julie Menghini says
Thank you Marilyn! You can easily double this recipe by doubling the ingredients. If you go to the recipe on the post and push the slider from 8 servings to 16, it will double the measurements for you. I would knead it the same amount of time or until you get the feel you do on a single recipe. When you bake it keep the temperature the same but you can just watch it when the original time is up and tap it. If you keep it at about the same thickness and just make it longer it shouldn’t vary much. If it has more of a hollow sound then it’s done. You can also test it with an instant-read thermometer and bake it to about 190F. Please check back with us and let us know how it goes.
Leslie miller says
can you use the dough hook on my mixer?
Julie Menghini says
You can use your mixer with the dough hook Leslie.
Chris says
Love this. Great bread. To double, can I skip doubling the yeast? Thanks!
Julie Menghini says
You can’t skip doubling the yeast Chris. It’s all a chemical formula that makes it work when it comes down to it.
Mary LaMorte says
Love it! I made this recipe into rolls, and used them for breakfast sandwiches. Absolutely lovely! And easy! I have photos to share, if you’re interested. Thank you Julie!!
Julie Menghini says
I would love to see your photos Mary! If you pull up this pin https://www.pinterest.com/pin/130041507978395118/ you can share them with everyone. Those sandwiches sound amazing!