Easy Italian White Bread: Baking your own bread is not only easier than you think, but it’s also fun and satisfying. Warm and toasty bread is the perfect comfort food for any time of the year!
If you love bread recipes then you’re also going to love this focaccia bread and this cheesy pull-apart bread!
Why You’ll Love This Rrecipe
There’s nothing better than filling your home with the smell of warm fresh, delicious bread in the wintertime. (Especially when it’s these soft pretzels!)
There’s something about the smell, taste, and texture of homemade bread that’s just so comforting! Now, of course you can get the popular Italian bread at the grocery store, but there’s just something about homemade.
My favorite things to do with this traditional Italian bread is dip it in chicken noodle soup, serve tuna salad on it, use it for bruschetta or serve it alongside a delicious main dish, like crab legs (you know, for that dripping butter to soak up)!! You can also use this bread for a perfect sandwich or use it to make French toast!
Jump to:
Ingredients
- active dry yeast
- warm water, divided (If the water is too warm, it can lead to your bread not rising properly. If the water is too cool, it can lead to a chance of your bread not rising)
- granulated sugar (a bit of sugar gives it just a little sweetness but this is not a dessert bread)
- olive oil (or any vegetable oil)
- salt
- unbleached all purpose flour
Egg wash (optional)
- egg
- sesame seeds
*see recipe card toward the bottom of this post for quantities
Instructions
DIRECTIONS:
- In the bowl of your stand up mixer with a dough hook, add ½ cup of warm water, yeast, and granulated sugar.
- Once the yeast has bloomed (or foamed), add the remaining water, oil, and salt. Mix slightly 30 seconds.
- Add the flour. I like adding the flour in increments, about a ⅓ at a time, and slightly mix in between each on low speed. Add the next ⅓ of the flour once you don’t have much loose flour in the bowl.
- Once you added all the flour and all ingredients are incorporated, increase the speed of your mixer to medium and mix for 5 minutes. At one point, the dough will form a ball and separate from the wall of the bowl. Once touching the dough, it is sticky but does not leave your hands covered in dough.
*NOTE* If you are doing this bread without a stand up mixer, knead the dough on a floured surface for 5 to 8 minutes until it is no more sticky and uniform.
- Transfer the dough to a light flour surface (about 1 tablespoon of flour) and knead the dough into a ball.
- Transfer the dough into a greased bowl. Cover with a plastic film and let it rise for 1 hour or until it doubles. In a warm, draft-free place. I like putting mine in the microwave
- Grease (I like using butter) a cookie sheet. You can also line with a parchment paper or silicone mat. Set aside
- Once the dough has doubled, punch the dough and place it on a working surface , I like to use my pastry mat.
- Separate the dough into 2 halves.
- Take one half and flatten it out into a rectangle and roll the rectangle into a log.
- Once the dough is a log, roll it to have a 12-inch-long rope.
- Place on the prepared cookie sheet
- Do the same for the second bread.
- Cover and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for 30 minutes
*NOTE* At the 10 minutes mark, make 3 to 4 slashes in the bread and cover with egg wash, and sprinkles some sesame seeds.
**NOTE** Put the bread back into warm, draft-free for 20 minutes
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
- Baked in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F. The bread will be golden brown.
Hint: Adding sesame seeds changes the look and the taste of the bread. When your bread is baking, the sesame seeds will be roasting. So every bite of this loaf of Italian bread will have a moist inside with roasted sesame seeds!
How do you keep homemade bread fresh?
It’s best to store this loaf of Italian bread in an airtight container or plastic bag at room temperature for up to 3 days. Storing homemade bread in the refrigerator causes it to go stale too quickly and heat and/or humidity causes it to mold too quickly.
Is Italian bread the same as French Bread?
French bread tends to be more narrow and longer while Italian bread is shorter and thicker. Italian bread is normally denser and has a harder crust than french bread. Either way, both taste amazing dipped in Italian spices and olive oil!
What is the best flour for making homemade bread?
Unbleached all-purpose flour is the best type of flour for white bread and other Italian breads. Bread flour is another type of flour that’s used in other bread recipes. Bread flower has a higher amount of protein than unbleached flour which yields a higher rising bread. This recipe calls for unbleached flour and not bread flour!
How to Serve
This easy Italian white bread is the kind of bread that can be served as an appetizer with dipping oil, it’s also a great side dish for those Italian meals or other easy dinner recipes! It would go extremely well with this Swedish meatballs recipe!
You can also serve this bread, fresh and warm with a slab of butter. Or, top with butter, and cheeses such as Monterey jack cheese and even make a garlic cheese toast out of it!
Recipe
Easy Italian White Bread
Ingredients
- 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 cups warm water, divided (If the water is too warm, it can lead to your bread not rising properly. If the water is too cool, it can lead to a chance of your bread not rising)
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil (or any vegetable oil)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand up mixer with a dough hook, add ½ cup of warm water, yeast, and granulated sugar.
- Once the yeast has bloomed (or foamed), add the remaining water, oil, and salt. Mix slightly 30 seconds.
- Add the flour. I like adding the flour in increments, about a ⅓ at a time, and slightly mix in between each on low speed. Add the next ⅓ of the flour once you don’t have much loose flour in the bowl.
- Once you added all the flour and all ingredients are incorporated, increase the speed of your mixer to medium and mix for 5 minutes. At one point, the dough will form a ball and separate from the wall of the bowl. Once touching the dough, it is sticky but does not leave your hands covered in dough.
- Transfer the dough to a light flour surface (about 1 tablespoon of flour) and knead the dough into a ball.
- Transfer the dough into an oiled large mixing bowl. Cover with a plastic film and let it rise for 1 hour or until it doubles. In a warm, draft-free place. I like putting mine in the microwave.
- Grease (I like using butter) a cookie sheet. You can also line with a parchment paper or silicone mat. Set aside.
- Once the dough has doubled, punch the dough and place it on a working surface , I like to use my pastry mat.
- Separate the dough into 2 halves.
- Take one half and flatten it out into a rectangle and roll the rectangle into a log.
- Once the dough is a log, roll it to have a 12-inch-long rope.
- Place on the prepared cookie sheet.
- Do the same for the second bread.
- Cover and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Baked in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F. The bread will be nice and golden.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Kevin says
I made the dough today but am going to bake it tomorrow. I think I’ll take the bowl that I let it rise in and store in the fridge over night. It is covered with plastic wrap so it shouldn’t pick up any refrigerator odors. I’ll update how this worked out.
I was thinking to use olive oil infused with garlic instead of regular olive oil. What do you think? Will that work?
Jessica says
Hi Kevin! I’m so glad to hear that you made this bread recipe! Mmmmm…. garlic infused olive oil sounds amazing! I’d love to hear if you try it and how it turns out!
Lisalia says
Who knew Italian bread would be so easy to make? Thanks for this recipe. It came together quickly and was such a perfect accompaniment to my tomato soup!
Jessica says
Mmm!! Serving this Italian bread with tomato soup sounds amazing! Thank you so much!
Toni says
Thank you so much for this! It turned out really amazing and comforting!
Jessica says
Oh I’m so glad, thank you for letting us know, Toni!
Allyssa says
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing white bread recipe! Will surely have this again! It’s really easy to make and it tasted so delicious! Highly recommended!
Jessica says
Hi Allyssa! You are SO welcome. Thank YOU for taking the time to come here, drop a note and leave a review. 🙂