Quick Italian Bread
This is the first time I have ever made bread in my life, and this recipe was really easy. I made both a long loaf and a round one and they both turned out great. Nice chewy crust on the outside and soft on the inside, and great flavor. I'm no longer intimidated of the thought of making bread. Thanks so much, great recipe!!
Ingredients
| 2 ¼ | teaspoons |
yeast, active dry
|
|
| ⅞ | cups |
water
warm |
|
| 2 ½ | cups |
bread flour
unbleached |
|
| 1 ½ | teaspoons |
sugar
|
|
| 1 ½ | teaspoons |
salt
|
|
|
cornmeal
to sprinkle on baking sheet |
* |
Directions
Proof yeast and ½ teaspoon sugar in ⅞ cup warm water for 10 minutes in a warm place.
In processor, mix flour, remaining 1 teaspoon sugar and salt for 20 sec.
With processor running, pour in the yeast mixture in a continuous stream.
Dough should combine and come clean from the sides of the bowl within a few seconds.
Add more warm water by the teaspoon if necessary.
After dough combines, let processor run (to knead) for 30 to 40 seconds.
Remove dough and roll it with your hands to about 18 inches long.
Place on sheet that has been sprinkled with corn meal (to prevent dough from sticking).
Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap.
Allow to rise in warm place for about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven 375℉ (190℃).
Remove plastic and diagonally slash loaf w/sharp knife at about 3-inch intervals.
Place in oven.
Spray loaf with water or place a pan of warm water in the rack beneath and bake for 20 min or until lightly browned.
Make 1 loaf bread.
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Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 96g (3.4 oz)
surreymathers
AWESOME recipe, which can be used and herbed in many ways....even for pizza dough!!! I am using this at least twice a week, more often if I can think of a new way to serve it, which is easy because it is SOO easy to prepare!!!!
over 12 years agodAD
Looks Great! Can hardly wait to taste them. May have to try it myself.
almost 12 years agoMonte
Great Job, inkky. Can hardly wait to taste it.
almost 12 years agoMay try the recipe myself.
I needed Italian bread in a hurry and forgot to throw the ingredients in my bread machine... discovered this recipe, easy to do, fast, and I was able to make it tonight to go with sausage and pepper pasta... It was FABULOUS!!!!!
about 9 years agoUnited States
this is the worst recipe ever!!! used all of my ingredients up for nothing. i did everything as told and it didnt work !!!
almost 8 years agoif you experiment a little and learn to use recipes as a guideline, not an exact set of rules you'll find this is a great recipe.
I'll bet yours came out dry and didn't "become" bread. it's most likely a sea level recipe, for higher elevations you'll need more water, and if your not using a 00 flour it'll require different ratios... AP is not bread flour and US bread flour is not European bread flour ETC. Based on altitude, part of the world and weather you'll need to add water till its a nice semi shaggy dough. If you don't know what that is you'll need to find someone with experience who can show you and then you'll realize, as I did, that this is a fantastic quick loaf.
- over 1 year ago
many recipes on this site don't give the quantity of the ingredient...all I see is an X
over 7 years agosean
X means as needed, or to your own taste. Sorry for the confusion. We will figure out a better way!
over 7 years agoI made this today, the bread is rising nicely. I followed the directions but had to add more flour to finally get the dough to pull away from the processor. We'll see how yummy it is in about a half hour.
over 5 years agoI checked the bread at 18 minutes so I let it stay in for 2 more minutes but the bread was not browning. So I added an egg wash and placed it under the broiler for 2 minutes and it became a perfect golden brown. Thank you for a quick and easy recipe.
over 5 years agoIt didn't rise well, I have made versions of this bread with different quantities from different websites, and they turned out better as far as the rise. I enjoyed the taste, but it was dense. I will try again on a different day to see if it makes a difference.
almost 4 years agoSame for me. Didn't rise and was sooooo dense. Just tried the recipe again, but kneaded for 12 mins (by hand). It's rising right now (hopefully).
DanYell
Yeast is super cheap in 1 lb bags at Sam's or similar stores Sam's makes you buy two at a time however. It will keep forever on the shelf unopened once opened you can keep it in the freezer. I found this to be the best way to deal with yeast. Individual single-use packets are not that good.
over 2 years ago