You might also like these recipes for Tuscan bread, easy ciabatta and vegan sourdough focaccia. This Italian bread is what you’d likely find sold at the supermarket simply as “Italian bread.” This is an exquisite bread: with a spongy, soft, airy crumb and a slightly hard, chewy crust. It is wonderful to dunk into soups, stews, make a bruschetta with, or to simply slather with vegan butter and pop into your mouth. The recipe makes two loaves, and leftovers make the best toast. This is also a great bread to throw on the grill! This is a simple recipe but it is an overnight one because you will need to make a biga - a starter or pre-ferment used in many Italian bread recipes. A biga is created by mixing together yeast, flour and water that is then allowed to ferment several hours or overnight before being mixed with more flour and other ingredients to create a dough. The biga, which you could think of as a shortcut sourdough starter, adds tons of flavor to the bread, and it also helps leaven the bread (although not enough to skip the yeast altogether).
Why you will love this recipe
Delicious bread. I love crusty breads with soft crumbs and this homemade Italian bread does not disappoint. It’s also full of flavor from the biga. And it’s tweakable to your preferences: if you like a softer crust, I’ve got you covered! Simple recipe. This bread needs three rises, including an overnight rise, so this is one of those recipes you want to plan ahead for. But the process adds up to just minutes of hands-on time. You also need just a few simple ingredients: yeast, flour, salt and water. Versatile. You can serve up this bread with almost any main dish, or use it to make yummy appetizers. It also toasts up beautifully. Makes two loaves. Which is perfect because I have enough bread to last us the whole week. You can freshen it up before you serve it by placing it in a brown paper bag, spraying the bag with some water, and placing in a hot oven for about 5-10 minutes. It will be like new. Vegan, soy-free and nut-free recipe
How to make Italian bread
Top tips
For a softer crust, replace half the water with any nondairy milk or choice. I like shaping this bread into oval loaves because that’s how it is sold at my local grocery store. But you can also make boules with this dough, or divide it in three and bake in three loaf pans. For a shinier, more golden brown crust, brush the tops of the loaves with a mixture of 1 teaspoon olive oil and 1 teaspoon non-dairy milk. Don’t go too far over the rise times for the bread. When bread is left to rise for too long, its structure can weaken, causing the bread to fall flat in the oven. Be sure to score the bread with a very sharp knife or blade before baking. This helps ensure that the steam created during baking has an outlet to escape, and those slashes look so attractive when they expand. If you don’t score the bread the steam will just break through the weakest spots in the dough resulting in a loaf that won’t look so great. If you are a new baker, I advise using your hands to knead bread dough instead of a stand mixer. It is easy to add too much flour or too little when you are letting the machine do the work for you. But if, as a new baker, you get an understanding of how the dough should feel under your fingers as you knead, you’ll be well on your way to becoming an expert!
Storage instructions
Refrigerate: the bread can be stored in the fridge for up to a week. Freeze: Freeze the loaves of bread or individual slices in a freezer-safe bag for up to three months. Reheat: Place the loaf in a brown paper bag and spray the bag with water. Place the bag in a preheated 400 degree Fahrenheit/205 degree Celsius oven for five minutes or until the bread has warmed through. Reheat or toast individual slices in the toaster oven.
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