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!
Italian Bread Recipe
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.
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.
Expert Tips & FAQs
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 use the packets of active dry yeast available at any grocery store. I bake a lot of bread, so I prefer to by SAF instant yeast in larger packages.
- When a bread recipe calls for warm water, the temperature should be around 110 degrees F. If the water is too hot it will kill the yeast, and too cold will delay the rise process.
- You’ll also use hot water in this recipe, but since you are mixing it with other ingredients before adding the yeast mixture it will be fine. You want hot tap water, not boiling water.
- This recipe calls for vegetable oil, but olive oil can also be used.
- We are using all-purpose flour, white not wheat, to make this bread.
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.
Helpful kitchen tools:
- Mixing bowls
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
- Baking sheets
- Wire cooling rack
- Pastry brush
- Rolling pin
- Bread knife
Bread Machine instructions are at the end!
How to Make Italian Bread
- Dissolve yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, and 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar in a small bowl.
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 to “prove” that the yeast is still alive.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine 2 cups hot water, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, the salt, and the oil. Add 3 cups of flour to the mixture in this large bowl/mixer and mix well.
- Stir in yeast mixture.
- Add 2 – 3 cups more flour and mix until well blended. (At this point your dough will still be quite sticky).
- Leave in bowl, cover with a towel and let rise for 1 hour. (If using a mixer, remove the bowl from the mixer and cover it with a towel. Otherwise your paddle attachment or dough hook will get covered in dough when it rises).
- Divide dough into 2 (or 3 if you want smaller loaves) pieces.
NOTE: This dough does not require kneading.
- Roll out each piece on a floured surface into the length desired then roll up length wise like a jelly roll.
- Put on a greased cookie sheet, sealed side down, and tuck the ends under. Slash the top diagonally across the top every couple of inches with a sharp knife.
- Cover and let loaves rise 30 more minutes.
- While loaves are rising, preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Whisk the egg white and brush over the top of loaves.
- Bake for 25 – 30 minutes.
How to Make Italian Bread in a Bread Machine
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.
- Using the printable recipe below, cut the ingredients in half, and eliminate the water and sugar step used for proofing the yeast.
- Put 1 cup of water (110 F) and 1/4 cup oil in the bread machine bucket (make sure the paddle is on).
- Add 4 1/2 teaspoons sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.
- Gently add 3 cups flour over the water mixture so that it is all covered.
- Place 2 1/4 teaspoons (one packet) of yeast on top of flour with nothing else touching it.
- Place bucket in bread machine and enter dough cycle.
- When it beeps, take out and roll dough, adding more flour if needed.
- Roll up (follow instructions in printable recipe for forming loaf) and place on baking sheet, add slashes to top, and cover with towel to let rise (again, according to recipe).
- Brush with egg white and bake at 400 F (see recipe instructions below).
How to Enjoy this Italian Bread
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.
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.
Try our new Crockpot Lasagna, it would be perfect with this bread!
Need more ideas? Find all my dinner recipes here!
What Our Readers Are Saying
Never baked bread before? Want to make sure before you invest the time and ingredients? Here’s just a small sampling of what our readers are saying about this recipe! You can find more reviews in the comments down below!
“I have made this twice and it is very tasty, good crust and soft inner not dense , very good flavor, I have been baking bread for 40 years, this is in the top five, Thanks.” ~ Thomas
“By far one of the best and easiest bread recipes I have come across!! Dough comes out perfect and is so easy to roll!! So glad I came across this recipe it’s a game changer.” ~ Tracy
“This bread was so, so delicious! I am proud of myself for going through with it. I was scared to do it and usually need video ( visual learner ) but went ahead and one of the two loaves is already gone! I wish I could attach a pic! I will make this over and over!” ~ Desiree
“I never post reviews… but after making this, I had to!!! I only had bread flour, so used that… but that was the only deviation. I followed the recipe exactly. The bread came out PERFECT! Crispy outside and moist inside. This is some of the best bread I’ve ever made. It will definitely be made again. Thank you!!” ~ Terri
“‘This is a million times better than store bought bread’
‘You have to make this every time we have pasta now’
‘Nom nom nom…’Feedback from my family after serving them this bread for dinner. Excellent recipe!” ~Dave
“OMG! I made this bread today and have to say this is the BEST bread I have ever made, and I’ve tried a lot of recipes! It was very light and fluffy yet just crispy enough on the crust. The only changes I made were I used bread flour and only used 2.5 tablespoons of the sugar instead of three. Thank you for sharing this! I am throwing away all my other bread recipes!” ~ Nadine
Homemade Italian Bread
IMPORTANT – There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Pin It Rate ItIngredients
- 1 ½ tablespoons active dry yeast 2 packets
- ½ cup warm water
- ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
- 2 cups hot water hot to the touch, not boiling
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 5-6 cups all-purpose flour add more if needed to get to a pliable dough
- 1 large egg white for brushing on loaves
Before You Begin
- If your dough is still super sticky, you can add small amounts of flour until the dough just comes together.
- You can use the packets of active dry yeast available at any grocery store. I bake a lot of bread, so I prefer to by SAF instant yeast in larger packages. If you use active dry, just follow the instructions in the recipe and let it sit for a few minutes to proof (it will get a little foamy).
- When a bread recipe calls for warm water, the temperature should be around 110 degrees F. If the water is too hot it will kill the yeast, and too cold will delay the rise process.
- Use regular white granulated sugar for this recipe.
- In a separate step, you’ll also use hot water in this recipe. Since you are mixing it with other ingredients before adding the yeast mixture it will be fine. You want hot tap water, not boiling water.
- Regular everyday table salt is used, not Kosher or sea salt.
- This recipe calls for vegetable oil, but olive oil can also be used.
- We are using all-purpose flour, white not wheat, to make this bread.
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, and 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar in a small bowl.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine 2 cups hot water, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, the salt, and the oil. Add 3 cups of flour to the mixture in this large bowl/mixer and mix well. Stir in yeast mixture.
- Add 2 – 3 cups more flour and mix until well blended. (At this point your dough will still be quite sticky). Leave in bowl, cover with a towel and let rise for 1 hour. (If using a mixer, remove the bowl from the mixer and cover. Otherwise your paddle attachment or dough hook will get covered in dough when it rises). NO KNEADING IS REQUIRED.
- After the rise, if the dough is too sticky to handle, add more flour until its workable. For some people this can be up to a cup or more! Just don't dry out the dough. Add by quarter cupfuls until its workable.
- Divide dough into 2 (or 3 if you want smaller loaves) pieces. Roll out each piece on a floured surface into the length desired then roll up lengthwise like a jelly roll. If it's still too sticky, add more flour until it's workable but not dry.
- Put on a greased cookie sheet, sealed side down, and tuck the ends under. Slash the top diagonally across the top every couple of inches with a sharp knife.
- Cover and let loaves rise 30 more minutes.
- While loaves are rising, preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Whisk the egg white and brush over the top of loaves.
- Bake for 25 – 30 minutes.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published here on January 28, 2009
Amanda Davis
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Lee says
This is my first time making bread and this recipe was super easy. Mime turned out a little heavy and dense, what can I do to make it lighter next time?
Amanda Formaro says
This article has great info on dense bread! https://mikeswindow.com/notebook/5-reasons-your-homemade-bread-is-dense/
Christina says
Hi Amanda! I’m looking forward to trying out this recipe as it seems pretty simple and highly regarded. One question – I recently got a stand mixer and this will be my first time making bread with it. For steps 2 and 3, if I am using the stand mixer should I be using the flat beater or the dough hook?
Amanda Formaro says
I just use the paddle attachment :)
Christine Molinari says
First time making this bread recipe but I’ve been baking serious desserts for many years. I am now experimenting with different bread and techniques after moving to Florida from New Jersey/New York. The breads here in Florida are very lacking. Either there is too much liquid or the amount of flour is very off in this recipe. After adding the 3 cups of flour, the dough was very liquid. To judge the correct amount of flour, the dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl when mixing but still be very sticky. In total I added about 5 cups plus additional when working the dough. I will correct the recipe in my own files as the recipe was fast, easy and I truly enjoyed the great crunchy crust and the subtle yeasty flavor. Thank you Amanda!
Lucy says
Everything seems to be going great until I went to cut it. Seemed like it’s not cooked all the way through. I didn’t want to put it back in because the top was so browned I was afraid cooking any longer would burn it.
has anyone else run into this and possibly cooked it on a different temp for a longer amount of time?
Sara says
I’ve made this dough with active dry yeast a few times and it’s always been super sticky even with adding extra flour, but even though it would look like a glob on my baking tray it still turned out pretty yummy. BUT I just tried this recipe with instant yeast and oh my I think it made a difference!! It turned out looking much more like the pictures and I was able to actually roll and shape the dough. I only put in the full 6 cups of total flour and didn’t need to add extra. I did add a little extra water (maybe a 1/4-1/2 cup?) since I wasn’t sure the liquid difference without using the active yeast. So if you’re having issues with stickiness, just know it will probably still turn out fine, but maybe try instant yeast for less stickiness!
Ron says
First time baking bread. Amazing. Simple.
Mrs. Durbin says
Great Recipe! Its pretty simple and I love that I don’t have to kneed! The dough was sooo soft and silky smooth, and I love the texture. I really just want to sit down and use this bread to scoop my sauce straight from the pot. Looking forward to checking out more recipes from your site, Amanda. Thank you!
Lia says
My daughter and I made this tonight and it turned out awesome. We ended up using about 5 1/2 cups flour all together. The dough rose perfectly. It was quite sticky but we turned it out on a floured board, added a handful of flour to form it into a large oval, cut it in half, and generously added flour to roll it out and shape it. We don’t bake bread often but this was super easy and delicious.
T. says
This is an absolute garbage recipe. 5 to 6 cups of flour? Is that flour packed? sifted flour? flour, sifted? spooned and leveled? I added 6 cups of spooned and leveled flour, and that was obviously still not enough flour. The dough became an absolute nightmare to work with and I ended up having to just throw it into a dutch oven and hope for the best. If you’re not gonna specify how to measure out the flour, then at least give it to us in ounces or grams. Definitely never using a baking recipe from here again.
Amanda Formaro says
All bread recipes require that you spoon and level the flour. All you had to do was add more flour and you would have been fine.
T. says
I did just that, but I was convinced I had added too much flour because it was already at like 4 extra cups at the end. Oh well, it’s just flour. The bread smelled sorta weird because of the yeast to flour ratio, so we tore it up and made a pretty good eggnog bread pudding with it.
Melissa says
Wow!!! What a rude comment.
Carly says
My family made me Promise to never buy Italian bread from a store ever again. This is amazing, and very easy to follow with kitchen common sense. We didn’t spoon and level our flour and ended up just fine. I scoop and fluff the flour in my container and it never fails me. Perfect recipe and THANK YOU!
Annmarie says
I had the same problem with this bread. I’m convinced all these positive comments are fake and paid for by the site owner. When I posted a negative review of the bread I was attacked by people too. Great to know we’re all allowed tk have the same opinion!
Janet M Totten says
Amanda – This bread was so easy and looks so beautiful after pulling it from the oven! I made a mistake somewhere because I could taste a lot of yeast. I used 2 packages of active dry yeast. Should I have waited until the top was foamy before adding it into the flour water mixture? I did use warm water, roughly 105°, salt and sugar with yeast. I will be making this again because of the ease and how nicley ot rises!
Margaret O’Connell says
Love this recipe. Easy to follow and the family loves it. I’ve made it at least 10 times now in the past month.
Carole says
This recipe turn out fantastic. I tried Paul Hollywood’s trick of allowing the first rise overnight in the refrigerator which is supposed to enhance the flavor due to the slow rise. It worked well ! I used olive oil and the flavor was delicious !!
Ellen T says
I tried the second rise in the fridge and it rose too much! The loaves were already formed, and I didn’t want to reroll them…I let it rise for about an hour, and OMG, they were HUGE. This did not affect the final product at all, though; it might have it I had let it go as long as I wanted to, which would have been about 6 hours. So I took them out and let them warm up while my VERY SLOW oven heated. They were still chilly when I put them in, but they turned out beautifully. The flavor was not to my liking, being both too sweet and too salty and tasting nothing like Italian bread but the texture and crumb were gorgeous, so I’m going to try again. Still, I’m not sure about an overnight rise in the fridge…
Joel says
Excellent recipe, and VERY easy to make, even for a first timer like me. I’ll be making this again!
JJ says
When it comes time to separate the dough should you punch it down and then separate it?
Amanda Formaro says
You will not have to because you will basically have done that in the step right before:
4. After the rise, if the dough is too sticky to handle, add more flour until it’s workable. For some people this can be up to a cup or more! Just don’t dry out the dough. Add by quarter cupfuls until its workable.
5. Divide dough into 2 (or 3 if you want smaller loaves) pieces.
Nia says
Second attempt at Italian bread. My guy and my neighbor both loved it. I used olive oil but might cut down the amount next time. I also added a little more salt. plus I put corn meal on the bottom while baking. This is definitely keeper. Going to try out sausage orzo soup tonight!
Jonathan says
Too much oil for my taste. Need to stick to 4 ingredient loafs. Thanks for publishing, looks like it’s popular.
Barb says
Best and easiest Italian bread recipe I ever made. I cut the cooking time down a little. My husband loved it. Instructions, tips and photos were right on
Jim says
This recipe would’ve been good if it weren’t for the oil. Way to much oil. Oil amount probably could’ve been halved. This dough was so rich from oil it was more like a brioche that italian bread.
Michelle says
Hi if I have instant yeast do I still do the same process of putting it in warm water, sugar, salt etc? I’ve been using the active yeast but just bought instant n wanted to know how to use it with this recipe. Thank you. Ps I’ve made this recipe a few times and it is amazing. My family gobbles it up. Soooo good.
Amanda Formaro says
Yes that will be fine!
Rachael G. says
This bread turned out so well!! The only substitution I made was using canola oil instead of vegetable oil. I couldn’t believe how simple the recipe was and how few ingredients it took! The crispy crust is perfection. Thanks, Amanda! Definitely keeping this recipe.