Every Sunday we have an elaborate pasta dinner and every Sunday we have fresh Italian bread.

Sundays are for pasta and homemade sauce and that means we need a fresh loaf of Italian bread to go with it. That means while my husband makes a beautiful tomato sauce, I roll up my sleeves and make an equally as beautiful loaf of bread. It may seem like a carb heavy pairing and you’re not wrong but at the same time it’s the perfect pairing. There’s nothing better than dunking a fluffy slice of buttered Italian bread in a delicious homemade tomato sauce.

Quick and Delicious Italian Bread

*Makes 1 loaf

1 package or .25 oz. active dry yeast

1¼ cup warm water (110° to 115°)

1 TBSP sugar

1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp fine sea salt

3-3 ½  cups all-purpose flour

Coarse yellow cornmeal (optional)

¼ cup heavy cream

1 TBSP white sesame seeds (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the active dry yeast and sugar in your warm water. Let the yeast stand for 5 minutes or until it becomes foamy.

Add the olive oil 3 cups of flour and sea salt, mix until you have a shaggy and slightly sticky dough. If dough is too sticky and hard to work with, add the last ½ cup of flour. 

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Lightly grease a clean bowl with olive oil, turning once to grease the top of the dough. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and roll dough into a rectangle. From the long side of the rectangle roll up and pinch the seam to seal. Taking care to start at one end of the seam and working your way across the entire seam. This is to minimize any trapped air that may get caught while sealing the dough. 

Place the dough seam side down on a parchment covered baking sheet sprinkled with coarse cornmeal.

Cover back up with the kitchen towel and  let rise until doubled, about 30-40 minutes.

While the bread is proofing, preheat your oven to 400°F.

When doubled, brush the loaf with heavy cream and sprinkle with sesame seeds. With a very sharp knife or razor blade, make four shallow diagonal cuts across the top of the loaf. 

Bake in your preheated oven for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove your delicious loaf from the baking sheet and cool completely on a wire rack before enjoying.

*Notes:

You can use a stand mixer with a dough hook if you don’t feel like kneading the dough by hand. However, I personally prefer to knead it by hand so I can get a feel for the gluten development in the dough. 

The use of cornmeal for the bottom of the bread and the sesame seeds for the top is completely optional. Simply omit these steps from the bread making process. 

If you don’t want to use the sesame seeds for the top that is perfectly fine just don’t skip brushing the loaf with the heavy cream. The heavy cream gives the bread a perfectly textured crust and a semi-glossy golden brown sheen.