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This fast and easy Italian bread recipe is ready in less than an hour. It’s not about perfection. Simple and rustic and made with only four ingredients!
Do you bake homemade bread?
I go through phases where I do more often, and then times when I just don’t. I think I forget how quick it can be, because if I remembered, I think I’d make it a lot more often.
This fast bread recipe is just 4 ingredients and is ready to eat in under an hour…start to finish!
Isn’t it pretty?! I brushed the top with a little butter for added flavor and shine after taking it out of the oven.
Sadly, just like with people–pretty doesn’t always equal good and I made one fatal error with this loaf that I’ll warn you in advance not to make: I forgot the salt. Ugh!
I’ve made this bread recipe dozens of times. It’s delicious! But bread without salt tastes like paste and there is (to my knowledge) no saving it once it’s baked. So I’ll say it again: Don’t forget the salt!
Easy Bread Recipe
One of the things that makes this bread recipe so easy is that there is no kneading involved, it’s all made in the mixer.
Mix your yeast with a little honey and warm water and let it sit until it’s foamy. Then add in your flour and salt and mix for several minutes.
It’s my perfect kind of loaf…simple and rustic. No worries about perfection here. Just plop your dough down and stretch it out a bit into a longish shape.
I use my baking stone, but you could use a sheet pan as well (I’d probably either give a metal pan a spray or sprinkle a little cornmeal under the loaf to prevent sticking. Not necessary with a stone, though).
Baking stones tend to be either love ’em or hate ’em and I am definitely in the LOVE category. We use ours for everything from homemade pizza and cookies, to chicken nuggets, to bread of course!
Let it sit, covered with a clean towel, for about 20 minutes while your oven preheats. Cut a few slits in the top and bake it up.
Brushing it with butter is optional. I like the pretty shine and extra bit of flavor it adds, but it’s really not necessary.
Related Post: Quick Chewy Breadsticks
I like to serve this with…well, just about anything. It’s perfect as is alongside a bowl of soup (this loaf was set to join a big pot of creamy chicken and rice soup), or anything saucy to dip it in (I’m thinking spaghetti or lasagna). But slather some butter, and maybe some honey or jam on top, and we love it with just about any main dish.
Give this one hour Italian bread recipe a try today!
Here’s the recipe:
One Hour Bread: Fast & Easy French Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 Tblsp honey
- 1 Tblsp active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Instructions
- Combine water, honey and yeast in mixing bowl
- Let sit about 5 minutes, or until foamy
- Add flour and salt
- Using dough hook (if you have one) mix in flour until dough is not sticky to the touch. (Start with 3 1/2 cups and add small amounts until proper consistency is reached). This usually takes about 5 minutes of mixing.
- Scoop dough out of bowl and onto baking sheet or baking stone, forming into a longish loaf
- Cover loaf with a clean towel and let sit for about 20 minutes while you preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Using sharp knife, cut slits in top of loaf
- Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown
- Optional: brush top of loaf with butter before slicing
This recipe, like all my recipes, is shared in the Meal Plan Monday link up. You can find the link in my sidebar – or right here!
This looks delicious! Do you think it could be successfully made with sugar instead of honey? Nothing against honey, I just don’t have any in my cupboard right now!
I think sugar would work just fine!
It worked and it was delicious!
Yay! So glad you liked it. 🙂
Cannot have sugar or honey. Can Stevia be used? Thank you.
I have never used Stevia, so I can’t speak from experience. But a quick Google search indicates that Stevia can be used in place of sugar in bread baking. If you try it, I’d love to know how it turns out!
Stuck to my stone and it was more work to get it off the stone than too actually make the bread…but…oh my…so worth it!!
Oh no! I’m glad you enjoyed it anyway. I wonder if sprinkling a little cornmeal or flour on your stone might help until the stone is more seasoned?
Hi,
I just made this wonderful bread, but the top of it is not nice and brown, what did I do wrong?
Hmmm, I would check your oven temp first, making sure it’s hot enough. I don’t usually brush mine with anything, but if it’s not browning I would maybe try brushing with an egg wash (beat an egg with a bit of water and brush over the top before baking).
So good. Can this recipe be doubled? Can you freeze the loaves?
I have not tried either, but I don’t see why not on both cases!
can I use bread flour?
I have not tried it with bread flour, but I think it would work fine. I believe the main difference is that bread flour allows more gluten production, so you may get a bit more chew–yum!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! I made it and it was a hit in my house! Incredibly easy and Delicious!!! Thank you!❤️
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe has become a staple in our home. Tonight I made it with bread flour and it’s even better. I do also add a splash of milk to my dough. It’s delicious!!
Fantastic! I’ll bet the bread flour adds a bit more chew to the bread? Yum!
Hi,
Do I’ve to let it sit for 20 minutes? I’m in a rush!!😅
It will be a bit more dense, but do what you’ve got to do!
Just made 2 loaves. This is such a easy great tasting bread. My go to bread. Love it.
Fantastic! So glad you like it!
Could this be made with whole wheat flour?
Absolutely! I haven’t tried it, and would imagine it would be a bit heavier, but still wonderful!
My young daughter and I tried a soup recipe for dinner tonight, and I asked her to try making this, as it looked fairly simple. She has some experience baking cornbread and cookies, but she’s never made “real” bread before. Since this was supposed to be ‘fast’ to go with our soup, we gave it a shot. She had no problem following the recipe (halved), and the bread turned out very well (although our baking stone cracked when the bread was almost done… sad!). She was very happy with the result, and I texted her the link to this recipe so she would have it for future reference. It was a great chance for her to develop her cooking/baking skills, as she will be heading to college in a few years. Thank you Susan, and thank you to everyone for all the great comments!
Cracked baking stones are the worst–so sad!! But I’m thrilled that she was successful with the bread recipe.
Can you make this in a bread machine?
I don’t have a bread machine, so I can’t say for sure, but I would expect you could.
I loved this bread. So quick and so easy.
So glad you liked it! It is easy and yummy!
can this be made by hand mixing?
Absolutely! You’d just need to mix it longer.
Amazing bread recipe! I added fresh basil and garlic to the dough and it was so darn tasty!! Thank you!
Yum! That would be delish!!
I LOVE this recipe!! It has become a staple in our home. My favorite thing to do with it is divide it up and put it into a muffin tray and make rolls! Unfortunately they go pretty fast!!! I forgot to put the salt in a recipe too, but we just slathered on more butter and suffered through! Thanks! SO glad I found it!!
Oh my goodness, what a GREAT idea! I am totally doing that THIS WEEK. Thank you for stopping by and sharing that!
I absolutely love this bread!! What is the nutritional info on the bread? How many grams/ ounces is a serving? Calories per serving? Protein? Carbs? Fats? Thank you so much!!
I’m so glad you like it! It’s a fave around here too. I haven’t calculated the nutritional information, but I know there are lots of online calculators out there where you can copy and paste recipes and they’ll figure it up for you. https://www.myfitnesspal.com/ is one I know of, but I’m sure there are lots if you Google them.
I made this bread tonight, it was sooooo good!!!! I was looking for a fast quick Italian Bread & this was so easy & PERFECT!!!! Thank you for sharing !! Idid not have Bread Flour so, I just used APFlour & it was so good!!! Thank You Susan it was fast, easy & Delish!!
So glad you liked it! I don’t use bread flour either…just regular old AP!
Can raisins be added?
I don’t see why not. Sounds yummy!
Thank you, I tried it and added cinnamon this morning. Delicious. Next time I will add dates.
Yum!
I totally screwed this up. I thought I put it in my top oven to rise and turned on the bottom oven to heat. But I turned on the top oven. Whoops! It still turned out great except a little over done in the bottom. Inside was chewy and yeasty just as you want Italian bread to be.
Oh my! So glad it still turned out!
I’ve made this so many times on a cookie sheet (because I don’t have a stone yet) and it turns out amazing every time! Easily both my and my husband’s favorite recipe I’ve tried!
I’m so happy you like it as much as we do. And yes, I would imagine a cookie sheet would work great!
Added a heaping spoonful of home prepared garlic butter and it was amazing and easy. Great broiled with more garlic butter and parm served with beef stew and Caesar salad. Thank you – love quick breads.
Oh my, that sounds divine– Thanks for the idea!