Rick’s Homemade Italian Bread is simple, yet has incredible flavor with a hint of olive oil. It’s soft on the inside, and has just the right crusty exterior. Use this bread for everything from salads, soups, meatballs, subs, and especially toast, garlic bread, or buttered bread all by itself.

Rick’s Italian Bread Recipe Story

You may have heard in my recent fall posts that Rick & I have become empty nesters 😲! Both of our kiddos are now in college, so we have been adjusting to all that goes with being “by ourselves”, including our emotions. So, Rick has been baking Italian bread non stop 😆, and I’ve been eating it, I mean busy working on a few projects for this blog. One of those projects was getting our porch ready for fall.

I’m actually happy to report that we both are feeling great, and very much enjoying this new chapter in our lives. We’re learning quickly on how to fill in the gaps with more time for ourselves, and that includes long walks in the park together, and quiet candle lit dinners (really we do!). That’s something that we really haven’t done often at home in over 20 years. It’s almost like we are getting to know one another in a new (candle) light 😊.

Before I get to Rick’s fantastic, comforting Italian bread recipe, I thought I would share our “Empty Nest” photo below. I hope you enjoy all the pretty fall decorating that has been keeping me busy on our front porch. All parents should take an “Empty Nest Photo”!

Rick’s Italian Bread with Butter

Yummo! It’s finally time to get to the bread. My husband truly enjoys researching Italian “dough making” and it really has been a treat for all of us to try his pizzas and now his crusty Italian bread. There’s just something so comforting about eating a warm piece of bread your loved one makes for you, especially ,with a big slab of butter on it. If you decide to try this recipe, you’ll find it’s absolutely fantastic with just butter, or olive oil. Throw in a salad, and you have the perfect meal.

Use Rick’s Italian Bread Recipe for Subs

Another way we enjoy using Rick’s bread is for subs. I find it’s best to slice the entire loaf down the middle horizontally and then dress the bread with your favorites, top it with the top slice, and wrap it in wax paper and tinfoil very tightly letting it marinate in the fridge over night. Then the next day, I slice it up. Here’s what I use on the sub, and in this exact order bottom to top:

👉🏻BEST ITALIAN SUB EVER: MAYO, TAPENADE, HAM, PEPPERONI, SWISS CHEESE/PROVOLONE, THIN SLICED CUCUMBER, LETTUCE, SALT & PEPPER, MAYO

Have Rick’s Italian Bread for Breakfast

Lastly, but really not lastly because Rick’s Italian Bread has endless possibilities, I use it for toast along side my eggs almost every day. I should mention that because of the special flour Rick uses, this bread is loaded with protein. In all honestly, the bread helps my blood sugar stay level whereas the processed bread at the store takes me up, and then down. I feel more level eating this bread!

Well, I hope my photos and ideas convinced you to try it. I’m always here for questions if you need me.

Rick’s Homemade Italian Bread Recipe

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Yield: 32

How to Make Rick's Homemade Italian Bread Recipe

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Rick's Homemade Italian Bread is simple, yet has incredible flavor with a hint of olive oil. It's soft on the inside and has just the right crusty exterior to use for everything from salads, soups, meatballs, subs, and especially toast, garlic bread, or buttered bread all by itself.

Prep Time 3 hours 9 minutes

Cook Time 28 minutes

Total Time 3 hours 37 minutes

Ingredients

• 750 grams water (weigh with a kitchen scale)
• 2 teaspoons dry active yeast
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 1000 grams All Trumps Flour (or any "00" Flour) (weigh with a kitchen scale)
• 3 1/2 teaspoons of salt
• 15 grams olive oil (weigh with kitchen scale)
• Cooking spray

Instructions

Bring temp of water to 105° F using the microwave, a microwave safe bowl, and food thermometer.

Combine water, yeast, and sugar and let yeast bloom (activate so you see it bubble) for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a stand mixer bowl combine flour and salt together (you can mix them by hand, but electric stand mixer is preferred).

After the yeast has bloomed for 10 minutes, combine flour mixture, bloomed yeast, and olive oil together. Mix throughly with a stand mixer ( approximately 5 minutes) or by hand (for 10 minutes) if you do not have a mixer. 

Once dough has completely been mixed (it will be sticky), divide evenly by pouring dough into two oiled covered containers (we use large plastic covered bowls). Let rise for 3 hours covered on the counter. We actually weight out each loaf to get them as even as possible-but totally not necessary.

After 3 hours, carefully pour each bowl of dough onto floured sheets of wax paper. Gently transfer dough from the paper onto a greased baking sheet by carefully rolling it onto the baking sheet. You can use a floured spatula to shape the dough if desired.

Bake each loaf at 500° for 8 minutes then reduce heat to 400° for 20 more minutes. Remove bread and let cool for 30 minutes on rack so air gets under it.

Enjoy! 👌🏻

Nutrition Information

Yield

32

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 120Total Fat 1gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 0mgSodium 233mgCarbohydrates 24gFiber 1gSugar 0gProtein 3g

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