Super Easy Italian Bread

I love making bread.  I don't make it often because there are only two of us and it ends up getting wasted. This Italian bread is by far the easiest thing I've ever made.  There are only a few ingredients and you don't even have to get out the mixer!  I also love punching the bread down.  Getting my hands right in the dough is wonderful, but giving it a few good punches feels great!  OK, enough about my aggression, here's the deal...









Ingredients:

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 1/2t active dry yeast
• 3 cups flour
• 1t salt
• 2t sugar
• 2T olive oil
• Sea Salt (optional)

Directions:

1.  In a small bowl, combine water and yeast, let sit five minutes.
2.  In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar.  Stir the yeast and add to the flour mixture.
3.  Mix the yeast into the flour with a fork until all is wet.
4.  Using your hands, work dough into a ball. Start out with a little bit of flour on your hands.  If the dough is sticky, add flour to the dough one tablespoon at a time.

Before Rising

5.  Cover with a dish towel and allow to rise for at least 30 minutes.  I like to punch it down and knead it a little, work it back into a ball and let it rise again while the oven preheats.

After rising for 30 minutes

6.  Preheat oven 375 degrees.
7.  Rub one tablespoon of olive oil on a baking sheet.  Form dough into an oval on the baking sheet. Pour the remaining olive oil on the dough and rub all over with your hands.

You can also sprinkle a little sea salt on top if you like, but go easy.  The first time I made this, I used too much salt and it overpowered the flavor of the bread. Don't be afraid to get creative here.  I've been considering a little crushed red pepper, or perhaps just a little garlic powder.
Before the bread goes into the oven, make about four shallow cuts diagonally across the top.  If you're interested, here's a good read about why we score certain breads: Why and what kind of breads should be scored? You could even get fancy and try some of the designs shown in that post.

8.  Alright, quit screwing around and put the damn thing in the oven already!  30 minutes should do it.

And now you have Italian bread in just over an hour!  So easy, right?  I mean, that's easier than stopping at the store on your way home from work!

Happy Bread Making!

You can use this recipe to make these delicious Chicken Parmesan Sandwiches