Crusty Italian Bread {C-r-a-z-y Easy To Make}

Crusty Italian Bread is an easy homemade bread recipe made with two main ingredients, flour and yeast.  The rest is salt and water.  

RUSTIC ITALIAN CRUSTY BREAD

It has the perfect crust, is crunchy, and has slight chewiness.  And the inside is dreamy, soft, and delightful!  Everything you desire in a loaf of Italian Crusty Bread.

Making a Crusty Italian Bread doesn't have to be as pain laboring as I thought. 

 As soon as I saw this recipe over at Food For A Hungry Soul, I knew it would be my go-to crusty bread recipe too. 

There is no kneading; you just mix all the ingredients, let it rise for four hours, shape it into loaves, and bake.  How c-r-a-z-y easy is that?

Not only is the recipe fabulous for making Crusty Bread----, but you can also make Crusty Rolls and Pizza Dough with it. Don't you just love recipes that just keep on giving!

Watch this video for other ways to make this wonderfully easy bread.  

Thank you, Tony, for sharing the video and the Word of God. I love it.  When you are in Texas, come see me!!  Give us this day our daily bread  Luke 11:3.  

WHERE CAN I FIND THE RECIPE?  TAKE ME TO THE RECIPE FOR CRUSTY ITALIAN BREAD

Below, under the next heading, I give a list of preferred ingredients, tips, and cooking instructions for Crusty Italian Bread and similar recipe ideas you can have.

Or you can scroll down to the bottom, where you will find a full printable recipe card with amounts of the ingredients and complete instructions with notes.

TIPS AND TIDBITS TO MAKE THE BEST ITALIAN CRUSTY BREAD

Yeast.  Ensure your yeast is fresh and active, not out of expiration date.  If you use the active dry yeast, dissolve it in the 2 cups of warm water before adding it to the flour.

Flour.  Bread flour is a great flour to use in this recipe, but all-purpose flour will also work.

Add flavor.  You can enhance the flavor by adding herbs, spices, or cheese to customize your bread.

Crust.  For a crunchier crust, sprinkle some water on the top of the loaf before baking.

Add fat.  Add a tablespoon of olive oil, or butter to the dough will make it more tender and moist.

Loose dough.  This dough is loose and will spread easily, but it is going to rise better than stiff dough.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE CRUSTY ITALIAN BREAD

4 cups, all-purpose, unbleached flour 
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2 cups warm water

HOW TO MAKE CRUSTY ITALIAN BREAD

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

Mix the yeast and flour in a large bowl. Add 2 cups of warm water. Mix until all the flour is incorporated and a dough has formed. Cover with a towel and let rise for 4 hours. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

On a well-floured surface, pour out the dough, covering the outside surface with flour as the dough is wet and sticky. Handling the dough as little as possible (you're trying not to burst the bubbles), shape your dough into your desired shape, and place it on the parchment paper prepared baking sheet that was set aside until it is time to bake.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Put an ovenproof bowl with 2-3 cups of hot water in the oven.

Place the prepared dough on the parchment-paper-lined sheet pan in the oven above the water. Depending on how dark you want your bread, bake for 35-50 minutes. The longer you leave it in the oven, the darker the bread crust will become.

The oven temperature is really high, and it is easy to overbrown the bread. So check the bread after 35 minutes.

WHERE YOU MAY SEE THIS RECIPE

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