Italian Bread Recipes from The Bread Experience

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There are many different kinds of Italian breads. Italy was once made up of several independent states, and each developed its favorite bread. The distinguishing characteristic of most Italian bread is not in the dough itself, but in the shaping, slashing, and baking of the bread.

Italian Bread Recipes - Bruschetta made with Tuscan Bread

Tuscan Bread with Bruschetta

Some of our favorite Italian Bread recipes

Italian Batards – Italian Bread made with a biga. A biga is the Italian version of a firm pre-ferment. This formula also incorporates diastatic malt powder to give the loaves a beautiful color.

Biscotti Picante Biscotti Picanti – (aka Sicilian Spicy Rusks)A twice-baked bread made with all-purpose and semolina flours and flavored with dry white wine, white sesame seeds, anise seed and olive oil.

Ciambella Mandorlata – an Italian Easter bread that originated in Bologna in the Emilia Romagna region, is typically baked in the shape of a ring, to represent the unity of the family.

Ciabatta Ciabatta is an Italian bread made in the shape of a slipper.

Ciabatti with Olive Oil and Wheat Germ Ciabatta with Olive Oil & Wheat Germ Ciabatta dough is very wet and slack so you typically don’t shape this bread, you just divide the dough and stretch out the pieces a little bit.

Crostini This Crostini is made with Jim Lahey’s No Knead Method and topped with homemade Roasted Red Pepper Spread.

Focaccia – Grilled Herb Focaccia can be flat, raised, round, oblong or freeform. Make it with plain dough or dough with added oil and herbs.

Focaccia – Popped Amaranth Popped Amaranth enhances the flavor of this focaccia and gives it a lighter texture.

Rosemary Pine Nut Focaccia Focaccia – Rosemary and Pine Nut The rosemary aroma is heavenly and the toasted pine nuts give this focaccia an exceptional flavor.

Italian Bread Bowls – These bread bowls are made using Italian Bread dough.

Italian Challah – Instead of being shaped in the traditional freeform 3-strand braid, this challah is baked in a loaf pan.

Italian Easter Braids – This traditional Italian Easter Bread, shaped into small braids and formed into rings, makes a beautiful presentation.

Italian Olive Oil Bread Pane Allo’Ollio (Bread Machine)The dough for this Italian Olive Oil Bread or PANE ALL’OLIO is made in the bread machine and then baked on a baking stone to create a crisp, golden crust with a chewy interior.

No Knead Ciabatta This is a no knead version of Ciabatta. It doesn’t require kneading, but it does require a little bit of shaping.

No Knead Italian Spelt Bread This bread is adapted from one of the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes’ breads: Il Bollo, an Italian Challah shaped like a ball.

No Knead Pizza Dough This pizza is made with No-Knead Pizza Dough using Jim Lahey’s no knead method.

Pain Rustique Pain Rustique, as the name suggests, is a rustic loaf of bread. It is made with an overnight poolish and shaped free form in a fashion similar to Ciabatta.

Panettone – This bread is made with an enriched dough with butter and sugar and filled with dried and brandied candy and almonds.

Mini Sourdough Panettones – naturally leavened Italian-style sweet breads filled with dried cranberries, golden raisins, candied orange and lemon zests and slivered almonds.

Pizza Recipes There are numerous methods and techniques for making delicious pizza. We invite you try a few and decide which recipe and method you like the best.

Potato Rosemary Bread If you’re looking for a good use for leftover mashed potatoes, this is about as good as it gets.

Pugliese Pugliese is similar to ciabatta but Pugliese is usually baked in rounds rather than in the slipper shape of ciabatta.

Rustic European Whole Wheat Bread This bread is round shaped and slightly porous. It is a rather wet dough so it’s best to form it by the sink so you can wet your hands frequently to keep the dough from sticking.

Semolina Breads Semolina provides a sweetness and almost winey aroma to breads.

Stollen Stollen This version of Stollen can be made in a fairly reasonable amount of time, about 4 hours from start to finish due to the strong sponge that leavens the dough at a brisk pace.