This FABULOUS Gluten Free Italian Bread was a total accident, and I am so, so glad it was! It's soft and fluffy with a thin softer crust that's just absolute perfection 🙂
I don't have a culinary degree, but I've been in love with baking since I was a little girl. Since being diagnosed with celiac, I've learned SOOOOO much more about baking, I think because I had to. When you're stuck with this disease and you're a foodie AND a baker, you learn to make everything yourself.
Sometimes it takes many hours (or even years) before succeeding at gluten free baking, especially when it comes to breads. If you were to look up gluten in a culinary textbook, there'd probably be a picture of yeast bread right beside it. Yeast bread is pretty much an exercise in the formation of gluten. There are still a few breads that elude me in this gluten free baking world, but I'll never give up. Not just because that's how I am as a baker, but also because I want what "they" have. I want the good stuff. The real deal. And I know you do, too.
What You'll Need
- Kim's gluten free bread flour blend--my bread flour blend is essential to the success of this bread (or any of my breads, for that matter)! If you're using a store bought blend, you will NOT get the same results as this.
- Sugar--just a little bit of sugar is all you need.
- Salt--every great bread needs a little salt.
- Instant yeast--instant yeast doesn't require blooming in the liquid before adding to the rest of the dough. Hence, the name "instant."
- Whole psyllium husks--Ever since I discovered the power of psyllium husks, I've been going back through a lot of my breads and adding it for the extensibility it provides. Psyllium husk powder can be substituted in smaller amounts (which are listed in the recipe below). NOTE: This bread can be made without psyllium husks with excellent results! See the notes in the recipe card for further details.
- Milk--you can use non-dairy milk if you need to be dairy free. Almond milk is a great alternative.
- Butter--a small amount of butter in the dough really helps with the softness of the inside of the bread, but also helps the crust remain crunchy but very thin and not overly hard.
How to Make Gluten Free Italian Bread
Each of my gluten free breads are special to me in their individual ways, but I have to say, out of all the gluten free bread I've made, this one is by far my favorite (and I'm pretty sure my family's as well). Like most of my breads, though, it's as easy to make as it is to eat!
Make the Dough
Whisk together the flour blend, sugar, salt, instant yeast, and psyllium husks in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the milk and butter and knead using the dough hook for about 5 minutes on medium high. Scrape the dough into the center of the bowl (or transfer to another bowl).
Let the Dough Rise (Bulk Ferment)
Cover the bowl and place it in a warm, draft-free area to rise until doubled in size. This can take anywhere from 1-2 hours or more, depending on the warmth of your area. In the summertime, it doesn't take as long in my kitchen. In the winter, I like to turn my oven on to the "warm" function, let it heat up for a few minutes, and then turn it off and place the dough in the oven. This offers a nice and cozy area for the dough to do its thing.
Refrigerate Overnight
So many people always ask me this, but yes, it is really important to allow the dough to chill overnight (or at least six hours) in the fridge. Refrigeration not only allows the dough to develop a little more flavor, it mainly helps to make it easier to work with. Without it, shaping a loaf of bread would be near impossible.
Knead and Shape
After its stint in the fridge, the dough is ready to be shaped. Dump it out onto a well-floured surface and knead it until smooth, adding more flour as necessary to avoid sticking. Start rolling the dough into a fat batard (which is like a short, squat baguette), or a boule if you'd rather. Place it on a piece of parchment paper.
Proof
Place the parchment with the shaped dough onto either a pizza peel or a baking sheet and cover the loaf with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to proof (rise) for 30 minutes to an hour, or until it's visibly puffed, but not necessarily doubled in size. Meanwhile, place a pizza steel, stone, or overturned baking sheet in the middle of your oven and a shallow oven-proof pan on a rack underneath it and heat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Bake
When the dough is ready, slash it with a sharp knife or lame 2-3 times at a diagonal and slide it onto the pizza steel, stone, or baking sheet. Pour one cup of very hot tap water into the shallow pan underneath and shut the door. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until deep golden brown and light in weight.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you've had my gluten free artisan bread, there is a subtle difference, but a noticeable one. In the ingredients, water is used instead of milk, which makes Italian bread softer. Olive oil is the fat of choice in artisan bread, whereas my Italian bread uses butter. This also lends to a softer bread on the inside, and a thinner, less hard crust.
Luckily, this bread is egg free so there's no worry about subbing eggs. That can be challenging in gluten free baking. As far as dairy free in the flour, see my flour blend page for suggestions. You should be able to swap out the milk with almond, coconut, soy, or other non-dairy milk. For the butter, try a non-dairy butter alternative such as Earth Balance.
Store this bread in a ziptop bag or wrapped in foil on the counter for a few days. After that it'll start to stale, like any great bakery bread. It can be refreshed by running it under cold water (yep, the entire loaf!), and placing it in a 350 degree F oven, directly on the rack, for 10 minutes. For longer storage, freeze the bread, well wrapped, for 3 months. Thaw it on the counter, still wrapped, and then refresh it as above.
I'm so excited for you to try this Fabulous Gluten Free Italian Bread! I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes your favorite, just like it is ours. What sandwich will you make first with it?
Fabulous Gluten Free Italian Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups plus 3 tbsp (453 g) Kim's gluten free bread flour blend
- 2 tablespoon plus 1 tsp (29 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoon rapid rise (instant) yeast
- 1 tablespoon whole psyllium husks, or 1 ½ teaspoon psyllium husk powder*
- 2¼ cups (540 ml) milk (a dairy free milk can be substituted, but hasn't been tested)
- 4 tbsp (56 g) butter, melted (dairy free butter can be substituted, but hasn't been tested)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, weigh bread flour, psyllium husks (if using), sugar, salt, and yeast. Whisk to combine. Place on the mixer and turn the mixer on low and slowly pour in the milk and butter. Increase the speed to medium high and knead for about 5 minutes.
- Scrape the dough into a large mass (or into another bowl) and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for about 2 hours or until doubled in size in a warm, draft-free location. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, but up to 7 days.
- On baking day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and dump it out onto a liberally floured surface. Knead until smooth. Roll it into a torpedo or batard shape (not as long as a baguette, but wider). You can divide the dough into two smaller loaves, if desired. Place the shaped dough on a piece of parchment and onto a pizza peel, but you can also use an overturned baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about a half an hour. It will not double in size, just be slightly puffed.
- While the bread is rising, place a baking steel (or baking stone, or an overturned baking sheet) on the middle rack of the oven and a shallow baking pan (such as a broiler pan) on the rack below it. Preheat the oven to 450° F.
- Slash the loaf a few times and slide it, parchment and all, onto the steel, stone, or baking sheet. Add one cup of hot tap water to the broiler pan and quickly shut the oven door. Alternatively, you may drop a couple ice cubes on the bottom of your oven to create steam.
- Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until you begin to smell the bread and it feels relatively light for its size (pick it up with gloved hands--if it feels at all heavy, add another 5-10 minutes to the baking time and check again). If the top is getting too dark, cover the bread with aluminum foil.
- Remove from the oven and allow it to cool on a wire rack before cutting. The crust will soften as it cools.
Notes
Did you make this recipe? I'd LOVE to see it!!! Post a picture and tag @letthemeatglutenfreecake on Instagram.
This bread was originally posted on March 27, 2019 and has been updated with a video, several new tips, and a revision to the original recipe.
Sarah
Hi Kim. Thank you so much for this recipe! I just baked my first loaf, following every ingredient and instruction to the finest detail. I'm a great cook but historically, a terrible baker, but this bread turned out beautifully. The crust was dark and crispy and carried so much flavor, and the inside was moist and chewy. It's unlike anything I've been able to find in the way of GF Italian bread. While I was able to get some good air bubbles in this loaf, I'm wondering if you've played with any adjustments to the recipe that produced even more air bubbles and therefore, a lighter, chewier inside. I wonder if more psyllium powder might do the trick and/or adding a bit of fizzy water in place of some of the milk. I have heard that works in other bread recipes. Any advice on this? If not, no worries. I'll keep experimenting. But like I said in the beginning, thank you so much, this was most delicious, and I look forward to using your custom flour blend for so many more recipes.
Barna
Hi Kim, thanks for all your recipes, I have tried quite a few. I have a little problem with this recipe, because the bread is a little dense, just very small bubbles in it. Apart from that it was very tasty. I live in Europe, so when I see tablespoon and teaspoon measurements for a recipe, it is very difficult to convert to grams. Perhaps my problem is converting "2 tsp kosher salt", "2 tsp rapid rise (instant) yeast" and "1 tbsp whole psyllium husks, or 1 1/2 tsp psyllium husk powder" to grams. Could you please also give these measurements in grams? I would be very grateful. Keep up the good work, thanks so much for the recipes! Barna
Kim
Oh, I'm so sorry, Barna. I follow several blogs and YouTube accounts that are in Europe and they also use tablespoons and teaspoon measurements. I could try to convert to grams with those, but I'm wondering if my scale would pick up little amounts accurately like that. Do you not use teaspoons or tablespoons at all where you are? I'll try to see what I can do. It may take some time to work on, but could you please tell me whereabouts you are so I know what I need for each area of the world? In the UK I'm pretty sure they all use teaspoons and tablespoons. Thank you!!
Barna
Hi Kim, thanks for your reply. I used these weights in the recipe:
sea salt: 12 g,
instant yeast: 7 g,
psyllium husk: 9 g,
I tried to measure as if TBSP was 15 mL and TSP was 5 mL. To my metric mind, it is very strange why the recipe alternates volume with weight. Of course I'll admit that other countries do it differently, but I even give water by weight in my recipes. I increase the yeast a little bit to see if that makes the bubbles in the dough bigger. Thank you again, and keep up the good work! I really like your recipes!
Kim
I alternate between volume and weight because in the US, people are still using volume measurements (although I would like to convert them all to weight). So you don't use tablespoons or teaspoons where you are? Because other parts of the world do, so I'm trying to figure out where you are so that I could try to be more conscious of what I can offer for different parts of the world.
Monica Otto
Love this bread! My niece and nephew have recently been diagnosed with celiac and I’ve been playing around with different gf recipes. For Christmas this year I decided to try your recipe to go along with our dinner. Everyone loved it! My only question is the bottom portion of the bread stayed gummy when I cut into it. So I wound up cutting it up and putting it back in the oven for a little while longer to complete cooking it. Any suggestions to keep this from happening? I followed the recipe and just made it a second time and it turned out a little better but still the gummy the bottom half. It still tastes delicious and I thank you for the recipe!
Kim
Most of the time it's underbaking, but it could be from cutting into it while it's still hot or from over or under proofing.
David Jackson
This bread is so good. I've just made my first attempt and I'm blown away by not only the taste, but also how moist and fluffy the inside is and how beautifully crispy the crust is. I can't believe my luck in finding this blog, A huge thank you to Kim. Due to a lactose intolerance I used goats milk and butter and because I happened to have them in the store cupboard, I used chia seeds rather than psyllium husks. I will have a go at using psyllium husks, but if anyone else has a store cupboard similar to mine, I can assure you that using chia seeds certainly doesn't seem to have done any damage!
Kim
I'm thrilled you're enjoying the bread, David 😊
Amanda
Hi Kim, Is it preferable to use whole psyllium husks over ground? Thanks for all of these amazing recipes! I'm so excited to get started.
Kim
Thank you, Amanda! I prefer to use whole psyllium husks because I feel like they offer more of a "wheaty" taste, but either will work fine.
Hks
Hello! I LOVE this bread- it's great! Just a couple things: 1. I am not seeing the psyllium husk powder in the written ingredients...I added it to the recipe with the flour. 2. The scoring is also not in the written, numbered directions. 3. I am remembering that you used to recommend pouring melted butter over the top of the bread and I'm seeing that, is that still a good thing? or not with the modified version?
Kim
Hi there! Thank you so much for finding those mistakes, and I will correct them right now!! You were correct in adding the psyllium to the flour.
I used to brush melted butter over the top of the baked loaf in the old version, but I found that it really didn't need it. Feel free to use the butter yourself if you'd like to, though. 🥰
Laura
I did two things differently with this recipe:
1. My family is mostly dairy-free, so while I did use real butter I substituted almond milk for the milk and used pea protein powder in the flour blend.
2. I made it in my bread machine using the normal GF setting and simple dump method (though I did melt the butter first, didn't do that the first time I tried this recipe and that ended badly).
I doubt if it mine came out as excellent as yours, but it was very easy, only took about three hours start to finish (well, plus an hour of cooling in the freezer), and was still the tastiest and best-textured GF bread I have ever eaten. Thanks!
Kim
Awe, that's awesome, Laura, especially that it still came out great with all the changes you made 😊😊😊
Pamela Price
Kim- I’ve been doing my proofing in my turned off. Warm oven lately. Works great. My concern is even though the ovens off the kitchen aid glass. Mixing bowl feels warm still. So I wanted to know should it cool off before going into fridge?
Like resting on countertop ,after oven ,before fridge? Just to cool off some?
Kim
I have a glass bowl for my Kitchen Aid too and I take it straight from the oven to the fridge with no problems 😍
charles tomasella
Kim, went to 3 shop rites - no xanthan gum. Is there a replacement for xanthan gum or should I keep trying to find it.
thanks
Kim
Unfortunately, there is no substitute that I know of for XG. Walmart usually carries it, but if not Amazon is a definite option.
charles tomasella
thank you .will try bob's fine white rice flour next time. Hope it makes a difference.
Kim
Bob's is not really that fine either. Sorry! I know it's a pain, but the ones I recommend are the ones that will work best for getting a soft interior that's not gritty at all. I actually state not to use Bob's Red Mill right in the list of ingredients.
charles tomasella
thanks for getting back to me. I am using your blend . the only thing is that I am using asian white rice. Does that make a difference?
Kim
Yes, it would make a huge difference. I really recommend superfine white rice flour (I have listed a few options right on my flour blend page). If you just can't get it, you may be able to use the Asian white rice flour, but you'd most certainly need to adjust the milk content. I don't know by how much because I never use Asian rice flour and don't recommend it.
charles tomasella
still waiting for reply. Would like to try recipe again.
charles tomasella
have tried to make this italian bread recipe twice today & both times batter is all liquid. 2 1/4 cups of milk seems to be way too much. Please advise - love italian bread.
charles
Kim
Hmmm. I've made this bread more times than I can count and the amount of milk is exactly as it should be. What flour blend are you using? If using my flour blend, are you substituting anything within it? That's usually the culprit of poor results.
Sue Mitchell
I am looking for a pan bread recipe that I can use to make a sandwich for my granddaughter's lunches. It's may sound silly but I needed to look like everybody else's bread. It cuts down the teasing.
Kim
I completely understand (kids can be cruel). I have two sandwich bread recipes on the blog, one is just a basic white sandwich bread and the other is my brioche loaf. I personally like the brioche loaf better, but it is a light yellow color because of all the egg yolks so that may be something to think about when it comes to teasing. If you go to breads from the main menu, you'll be able to find them (or you can use the search function).
Patricia
Hi Kim- can I substitute the to the yeast for some thing? I have a yeast sensitivity. Thank you
Kim
Unless you want to make a sourdough starter (which I have a recipe for right here on the blog) in place of the yeast, there's no substitute for yeast. Search sourdough from the main menu and you'll find everything you need 🙂
K. Albert
Great recipe! I'm not a baker or cook. I just made the GF Italian bread following Kim's recipe to the letter and it came out really really well! I put together Kim's GF flour blend then followed all the steps and am very pleased with my first attempt. The hardest part was the rolling of the very sticky dough so my first loaf looks a little strange (but tastes great) and the second was more presentable after using a more liberal amount of Kim's flour to gently roll the loaf into shape. Thank you Kim for such a tasty, and rather easy, recipe to give me back the Italian bread I lost when I was diagnosed with celiac disease. Absolutely no other GF store bought bread comes close to the taste and texture of Kim's recipe. 5-stars ★★★★★.
Kim
Awe, thank you so much!!!! I'm thrilled that you liked the bread (it is probably my absolute favorite bread I make). You'll find that adding more flour to shape the dough won't hurt it at all, like it would with regular (wheat) bread. 😍😍😍