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Photo of Mama D's Italian Bread by Christine Darrock

Mama D's Italian Bread

Rated as 4.59 out of 5 Stars
704 made it  |  451 reviews   |  43 photos

Recipe by:

"This is a basic delicious Italian bread."
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Ingredients

2 h 50 m servings 90
Original recipe yields 36 servings (3 loaves)

Directions

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  1. Add the sugar and yeast to the warm water and let proof.
  2. Stir in 4 cups of flour and beat until smooth. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
  3. Beat in the salt and then add enough remaining flour to make a stiff dough. Knead until as soft and smooth as a bambino's behind. Turn in a greased bowl, cover, and let double in size. (I put it in the oven with the light on - perfect rising temperature.)
  4. Once doubled, punch down and divide into three. Place back in the bowl, cover, and let rise.
  5. Once doubled again, punch down and form into three fat "footballs." Grease heavy cookie sheets and sprinkle with corn meal. Place the bread on the sheets, cover with a towel, and let rise.
  6. Once risen, mist with water and place in a preheated 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) oven. Mist loaves with water and turn occasionally while they bake. Bread is done when golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
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Footnotes

  • Tip
  • Aluminum foil can be used to keep food moist, cook it evenly, and make clean-up easier.

Nutrition Facts


Per Serving: 90 calories; 0.3 18.8 2.6 0 194 Full nutrition

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Reviews

Read all reviews 451
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  1. 539 Ratings

  2.  
    Rated as 5 out of 5 Stars
  3.  
    Rated as 4 out of 5 Stars
  4.  
    Rated as 3 out of 5 Stars
  5.  
    Rated as 2 out of 5 Stars
  6.  
    Rated as 1 out of 5 Stars
Most helpful positive review

I really like this bread I gave it 5 stars for taste but I'm giving it 3 stars for the directions. I found I had to find my own way through the directions, it states cook time 1 hour, I found t...

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Most helpful critical review

What did I do wrong? I am not a novice at baking bread, have been making different breads for quite some time,but I had a problem with this recipe. When I shaped into "footballs", and let them...

Read more
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Least positive
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I really like this bread I gave it 5 stars for taste but I'm giving it 3 stars for the directions. I found I had to find my own way through the directions, it states cook time 1 hour, I found t...

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Good recipe, works well if you add a little italian seasonings in with the ingredients. As a culinary student I've tried and failed with bread many times before getting some decent results. ...

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OHMYGOD. YUM. Keep in mind that less handling after rising has started, the better the flavor. My first loaf was good, but after I read up a bit on proper dough handling, the flavor increased ...

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This bread is fabulous-o. I make bread a lot. For those of you who have read the other complaints about a sticky bread, this is the deal. The flour for a bread recipe is always a variable. D...

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This bread was delicious the first time I made it, but novice bread-makers should be warned: this dough is very sticky and hard to work with if you use anything close to the amount of flour list...

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Bread gets 5+..directions get a 2. This appears to be written for "bakers", which I am not. Here's some info the non-bakers might find helpful! PROOFING YEAST: put water, sugar in bowl. Sprinkl...

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What did I do wrong? I am not a novice at baking bread, have been making different breads for quite some time,but I had a problem with this recipe. When I shaped into "footballs", and let them...

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The taste and texture of this bread is great. I dusted it with a little flour right before putting it in the oven, and put a pan of water in the oven instead of misting it. It came out crusty ...

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This is the second time I made this bread and I thought I'd try making half the batch into rolls. I pulled off chunks of the dough, lightly rolled it in my palms to make it smooth, let rise as ...

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