Rustic Italian Bread, a Diet Bread Recipe

You'll never want to purchase dried-out, so-called gourmet Italian bread again after making our ultra-easy, delicious diet recipe for Italian Bread. If you have 10 minutes to spare in the kitchen, that's all you need. And you'll get in a bit of exercise too.

The entire recipe contains about 2,000 calories and makes 10 very generous servings. Allow bread to completely cool before covering leftovers.

Ingredients for Rustic Italian Bread, a Diet Bread Recipe

4 cups of bread flour
1 package of active yeast
1 cup of very warm tap water
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of honey
2 eggs, both whisked separately

Directions for Preparing Rustic Italian Bread, a Diet Bread Recipe

Use a very deep bowl (we use an inexpensive $1.50 red plastic bowl). Add flour, making a mote around the bowl and leaving a deep well in the center. Place yeast in center of well; carefully add the very warm water. Allow yeast to develop a foam (about 5 to 15 minutes).

Using a wooden or plastic spoon, incorporate the mixture, adding the salt, honey and ONE beaten egg after a couple of good stirs. Dough will be sticky.

Use hands to knead the dough for a minute or so, then form dough into a ball and allow to rest in a warm area for about 1 hour. Cover the bowl with a damp towel. After one hour, return to the dough and punch it down. Knead for about 1 minute or so, then form another ball; cover with damp towel and allow to rest an additional 2-3 hours. If you find the dough to be too sticky, simply add a bit more flour.

Dough will be doubled in size. Carefully transfer to baking sheet. You can sprinkle a bit of coarse cornmeal on the baking sheet if desired, or spread out a bit of flour. We simply spray a sheet of foil with cooking spray (butter flavored), then we carefully place the bread dough on the foil (which we use to cover the baking sheet, of course).

Carefully form a long log. Using your clean hands or a brush, cover the dough with the remaining beaten egg.

Cook in a preheated oven at 350 degrees until bread is golden brown.

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