Yes, You Can Make Homemade Italian Bread By Hand

Want to learn an easy Italian bread recipe? Look no further. You can make this Italian bread recipe by hand in two hours!

Bread machines are fine, but some still want to make an Italian bread recipe by hand. This Italian bread recipe is easy to make as long as you have patience while the dough rises and bakes. Try making homemade bread. In the end, a fresh bread aroma will fill your house, and you will have a tastier loaf than what you’ll find at the grocery store. It is an excellent appetizer for lasagna and chicken parmesan.

Homemade Italian bread recipe

1 cup of lukewarm water
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of sugar
½ teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of yeast
Cornmeal
1 egg white (optional)

How to make Italian bread

• Use a large mixing bowl to combine the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Then add the warm water and oil until the dough is formed.
• On a floured surface, knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until it becomes smooth.
• Place the dough in a bowl and cover it with a towel or plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place to rise. After about 30-40 minutes, the dough should be lighter in color and have doubled in size.
• Sprinkle cornmeal on an ungreased cookie sheet. Punch down the risen dough to eliminate any air bubbles. Then shape the dough into a baguette-shaped loaf (approximately 12 inches long) and make a deep, lengthwise slash on the top of the loaf.
• Coat the loaf with your egg white (optional).
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 25 to 35 minutes. Tap the loaf and, if it sounds hollow, the bread is finished.
• Remove loaf from the cookie sheet immediately and allow the bread to cool for 1 hour.

Bread Baking Tips

• One caveat about the water is to make sure that it isn’t too warm or it will kill the yeast.
• Be generous with the flour on your kneading surface as it will make the kneading process easier and cleaner. Still, you should count on getting some dough stuck to your fingers. Just wash that off in the sink with cold water.
• Also, dough kneading is not nearly as prohibitive as it sounds. It just requires some time and patience.
• This type of bread is an excellent choice to serve with lasagna or spaghetti.

Now that you know how to make an Italian bread loaf, you might consider making other from-scratch bread products like pizza dough from scratch.