Italian Bread
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By Alyssa Rivers
on Apr 14, 2023, Updated Nov 17, 2024 |
Skip the bakery and make your own artisan Italian bread at home! This bread is perfect for subs and sandwiches of every kind. Besides, no one can resist the smell of fresh bread hot out of the oven!
Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
- Fun to Make: If you love working with dough, this Italian bread recipe is for you! It’s so easy, resulting in a fluffy inside and slightly chewy outside.
- Texture: This bread is light and airy inside, with the best chewy, flavorful crust on the outside.
- Versatile: Italian bread is perfect alongside soups and pasta. Try it with my creamy Zuppa Toscana soup or lemon garlic parmesan shrimp pasta.
Artisan Italian Bread Ingredients
The ingredients for this Italian bread are simple—just the basics. This recipe calls for bread flour, which has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour. If you want to use all-purpose flour, I have a tip below in the tip box for how to adjust the recipe for that. You can find the measurements below in the recipe card.
- Active Dry Yeast: Use warm water to activate it. It should only take a few minutes to get frothy.
- Warm Water: To help the yeast activate and come alive.
- Sugar: Sugar helps the bread rise better and gives it more flavor. You could use honey instead.
- Bread Flour: You could use wheat flour or all-purpose flour instead, but I discuss how to do that successfully in the tip box. Bread flour has a high protein content, which makes it different from all-purpose flour.
- Salt: Brings out all of the lovely flavors.
Italian Bread Recipe
You can make this recipe by hand! All you need is a large mixing bowl and a wooden spoon. Anything that mentions a stand mixer’s bowl can be added to your mixing bowl instead. When you knead by hand, try not to add too much extra flour; you don’t want your bread to be dry.
Make Dough
- Activate Yeast: In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix your yeast, warm water, and sugar. Allow the mixture to sit until the yeast becomes frothy, about 5 minutes.
- Mix Dough: Once the yeast is ready, add the flour and salt to the bowl. Mix on low speed using the dough hook attachment until the dough comes together, about 3-4 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 3-5 minutes to develop the gluten.
- Rest: Once the dough is done mixing, remove it from the mixer and place it into an oiled bowl. Cover and let the dough rest until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
- Pound and Fold: Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and pound the air out of it, fold it back in on itself into a round and place it back into the bowl, seam side down. Cover and let rest for another 30-40 minutes.
Shape and Bake
- Cut and Shape: Once the Italian bread dough has rested and risen again, dump it out onto a lightly floured surface and degas it again. Cut the dough in half and roll them both up into 10-inch baguette-like loaves. Place the loaves onto your prepared baking sheet, seam side down, and cover them. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Proof and Bake: Proof your loaves until they are nearly double in size, about 30-45 minutes. Once the loaves are ready, score your loaves (I did two diagonal slits on each one) and bake them for 25-30 minutes. They should have a light golden brown crust and temp out to 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cool: Remove the loaves from the oven to cool to room temperature.
Tips for Making Homemade Italian Bread
I like to make bread, so I always have bread flour. If you don’t, here are some tips for using other flours in this Italian bread recipe.
- Using A Different Flour: You might not have bread flour if you don’t bake bread frequently. I will say that I haven’t tested this recipe with another flour. I can tell you from experience that sometimes substituting 1:1 bread flour for all purposes doesn’t always turn out. You should be able to use the same amount of flour with a little less water or add extra flour if the dough seems way too sticky. Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose, so it sucks up more water. Don’t be afraid to experiment until you get it right!
- Whole Wheat Italian Bread: If you want to make this loaf whole wheat, I recommend using half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat flour. Using all whole wheat may result in a dense and dry loaf that doesn’t really hit the spot.
Storing Leftovers
Homemade bread doesn’t contain preservatives, so it doesn’t last quite as long as store-bought bread. Here are my tips for keeping your bread fresh for as long as possible.
- On the Counter: Make sure your bread has completely cooled for at least a few hours before storing. You can store in a bread bag or bread box for a few days, or transfer bread directly to a plastic bag for up to a week.
- In the Refrigerator: Store your bread in an airtight bag in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
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In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix your yeast, warm water, and sugar. Allow the mixture to sit until the yeast becomes frothy, about 5 minutes.
Once the yeast is ready, add the flour and salt to the bowl. using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until the dough comes together, about 3-4 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and mix it for 3-5 minutes to develop the gluten.
Once the dough is done mixing, remove it from the mixer and place it into an oiled bowl. Cover and let the dough rest until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and pound the air out of it, fold it back in on itself into a round and place it back into the bowl, seam side down. Cover and let it rest for another 30-40 minutes.
Once it has rested and risen back up again, dump it out onto a lightly floured surface and degas it again. Cut the dough in half and toll them both up into 10 inch baguette-like loaves. Place the loaves onto your prepared baking sheet, seam side down and cover them. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.
Proof your loaves until they are nearly double in size about 30-45 minutes. Once the loaves are ready, score your loaves (I did two diagonal cuts on each one) and bake them for 25-30 minutes. They should have a light golden crust and temp out to 190 degrees fahrenheit.
Remove the loaves from the oven and allow them to cool to room temperature.
Calories: 743kcalCarbohydrates: 150gProtein: 25gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.3gSodium: 2340mgPotassium: 208mgFiber: 5gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 4IUCalcium: 38mgIron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.