Bread Machine – Italian Herb Bread

This bread machine Italian herb bread creates a great tasting Italian-style sandwich bread. It is perfect for Italian-themed sandwiches such as chicken parmesan sandwiches, porchetta sandwiches, meatball sandwiches and mozzarella, tomato & basil sandwiches (also known as Caprese sandwiches). You can also use this Italian herb bread as an appetizer and dip it in olive oil. Or use it with cold cuts if you want to add some Italian flair to your child’s regular “boring” sandwich lunches. Or toast this bread and slather it with butter! There are many ways to enjoy this delicious homemade bread.

Bread Machine Italian Herb Bread (with Herb Topping)

Since this Italian herb bread recipe is done in a bread machine, it is simple & easy to make. It should take you only 5 minutes or so to prepare and then you let the bread machine do the rest of the work. For more great recipes, please visit Bread Dad’s main Bread Machine Recipes section. Bread Dad also has a printable and “pin-able” recipe at the bottom of the page. If you like this recipe, we hope you will leave a comment below and give us a 5 star rating. Thanks!

Key Ingredient – Italian Herb Seasoning

Ingredients – Bread Machine – Italian Herb Bread – 1.5 lb Version

• 1 1/8 Cups – Milk (lukewarm) – 259 milliliters
• 4 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (softened) – 57 grams
• 3 Cups – Bread Flour (not all purpose flour) – 360 grams
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons – White Granulated Sugar – 19 grams
• 1 Tablespoon – Italian Herbs Seasoning – 15 milliliters (6 grams)
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Onion Powder (optional) – 2.5 milliliters (2 grams)
• 1 Teaspoon – Salt – 6 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Bread Machine Yeast (or Instant Yeast) – 3 grams – Not active dry yeast

Ingredients – Bread Machine – Italian Herb Bread – 2 lb Version

• 1 1/2 Cups – Milk (lukewarm) – 345 milliliters
• 6 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (sliced & softened) – 86 grams
• 4 Cups – Bread Flour – 480 grams
• 2 Tablespoons – White Granulated Sugar – 25 grams
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons – Italian Herbs Seasoning – 22 milliliters (9 grams)
• 1 Teaspoon – Onion Powder (optional) – 5 milliliters (4 grams)
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons – Salt – 9 grams
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons – Bread Machine Yeast (or Instant Yeast) – 4.5 grams – Not active dry yeas

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, flexible spatula, oven mitts, cooling rack… and of course, a bread machine.

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Optional – Sprinkle Italian Herbs on Top of Dough after Final Kneading

Instructions – Bread Machine – Italian Herb Bread

• Bread Machine settings – 1.5 or 2 pound loaf, light color and “basic” bread setting
• Make sure the bread machine is unplugged and remove the bread pan from the bread machine.
• Pour the milk into the bread pan and then add the other ingredients (including the Italian herb seasoning). Place the bread machine yeast in last and the yeast should not touch the liquid (until the bread machine is turned on and the ingredients start to be mixed together).
• Place the bread pan back in the bread machine and plug in the bread machine.
• Enter the correct settings into your bread machine (i.e. 1.5 or 2 lb, light color & basic setting) and press the “start” button.
• After the bread machine has finished baking the bread, unplug the bread machine. Remove the bread from the bread pan and place it on a cooling rack. Use oven mitts when removing the bread pan from the bread machine as it will be very hot!
• In our Sunbeam bread machine, the baking takes about 3 hours for a 2 pound bread (and 2:53 hours for a 1.5 lb bread) at the light color & basic bread settings. However, some machines can differ and you don’t want to be away from home when the bread machine “finished” alarm goes off! Your bread machine should show you the length of the baking time after you have entered the settings into the machine. This will allow you to know when to be in the kitchen in order to remove the bread.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below and give us a 5 star rating. Beginning bakers learn a lot from your baking comments, tips & recipe variations. Jump to comment section

Other Bread Dad Sections

• Bread Machines – My favorites
• Bread Machine Cookbooks
• Bread Mixes – Ingredient kits
• Bread Tools – Bread slicers, etc.

Tips – Bread Machine – Italian Herb Bread

• The tips below are designed to help bread machine “novices” and those who haven’t touched their bread machine in years.
• Click on our “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include our tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on easy Bread Machine Recipes (such as butter white bread, banana bread, multigrain bread and French bread).

• If you want to make a classic oval-shaped Italian bread (and not the usual bread machine “block” shaped bread), you should visit the page for our delicious Bread Machine Italian Bread recipe. It is a slightly more advanced recipe where the dough is made in a bread machine but baked in an oven.
• Optional – I like adding onion powder to this recipe in order to add extra flavor to the bread. However, this is purely optional and you can omit the onion powder if your family wouldn’t like a very mild onion flavor in their bread.
• Optional – For a more “authentic” herb bread appearance, I like to sprinkle an extra 1/2 teaspoon of Italian herb seasoning on top of the dough after the FINAL kneading cycle and before the baking cycle commences. I always wear oven mitts when opening the bread machine because it may be hot. Also people should not put their hands inside a bread machine for safety reasons. Read your bread machine manual in order to see how to do this step properly with your specific bread machine.
• Optional – If you are out of butter, you can use olive oil instead. My thanks to Rachel for this tip!

• If you try to substitute garlic powder for the onion powder called for in this recipe, this recipe will not work as well. Garlic inhibits yeast growth and your bread will have trouble rising properly. Solution – Instead of using dehydrated garlic powder, you should mince & fry fresh garlic (as this will destroy the antimicrobial effect) before adding it to this bread.
• Italian seasoning is often made from the following herbs; basil, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme. You can find bottles of dried Italian herb seasoning in the supermarket. Or you can concoct your own mixture out of your favorite dried Italian herbs. If you want to learn more about Italian seasoning, you should read this Wikipedia page.
• If you are growing these herbs at home, you can make your own fresh Italian seasoning. This Italian herb bread will taste even better if you add your own home grown ingredients!

• Some bakers like to make a little indent on top of the flour (like a crater in the top of a flour volcano) in order to hold the yeast. This will prevent the yeast from falling into the milk & activating prematurely (until the bread machine starts).
• Do not place the salt on top of the yeast (as the salt can kill the yeast or limit the yeast’s growth) when adding the dry ingredients into the bread pan. You can use the yeast “indent” method (see bullet point above) to keep the salt & yeast separate until the bread machine starts to mix the ingredients. Place the yeast in the indent and place the salt away from the yeast on one of the sides of the bread pan.

• Do NOT use cold milk. The main problem with using regular milk is that people tend to use cold refrigerated milk and this can slow the yeast growth. Try to use warm milk (or instant powdered milk mixed into warm water). However, you should also be aware that the milk/water should not be too hot because very hot milk/water can kill the yeast.
• If you liked this Italian dish, you should also try our bread machine recipes for pizza dough (with Italian seasoning), whole wheat pizza dough, calzones, Italian bread, breadsticks, garlic bread, etc.
• Use FRESH ingredients (i.e. flour & yeast) for the best results. Ingredients that have been sitting in the pantry for months can become stale or pick up weird smells & flavors. Try to keep your ingredients (i.e. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life.
• Bread machine yeast and instant yeast are very similar. Both can be used to make this recipe. However, active dry yeast is not the same as bread machine yeast or instant yeast. Active dry yeast must be pre-activated in liquid for 5-10 minutes before use. You do not have to pre-activate bread machine yeast or instant yeast. This recipe is not designed for the use of active dry yeast.

• If your bread comes out too dense, it is likely due to one of the following reasons; You are using old or stale yeast, using a cold refrigerator temperature liquid (which slows yeast growth), baking in a cold winter temperature kitchen (yeast likes kitchen temps of 75-80 degree F), using all purpose flour (versus bread flour as called for in the recipe), placing salt on top of or next to the yeast (salt kills yeast so it must be placed away from the yeast in the bread pan), etc.
• Kitchen humidity can impact a recipe. A winter kitchen tends to be drier due to your heating system drying out the air. In contrast, a kitchen in the summer can be much more humid. This change in humidity impacts baking as flour can soak up humidity from the air. Therefore, you might have to add 1-2 teaspoons of liquid in the winter if the dough is looking too dry. Or you might have to add 1-2 teaspoons of flour in the summer if the dough is looking too wet. If your kitchen is very dry or humid, you might have to add even a little more (but start with 1 teaspoon at a time until you achieve the right consistency). Of course, excessive kitchen humidity or dryness can impact a recipe at any time during the year (not just in the summer & winter)!

• Do NOT confuse or mix up the 1.5 lb & 2 lb ingredient amounts and machine settings when making this bread machine recipe (i.e. accidentally using some of the 2 lb ingredient amounts when making the 1.5 lb version). Cough, cough… I know because I have done this before!
• This recipe is NOT for 1 lb capacity bread machines. Please check the capacity of your bread machine before making this recipe. This recipe helps you to create 1.5 lb and 2 lb bread loaves.
• For bread machines with a loaf capacity greater than 1 lb, you should consider making the 1.5 lb version first. Some bread machines with a supposed 2lb loaf capacity are smaller than advertised. See how the 1.5 lb version works in your bread machine before attempting the 2 lb version.

• If you have a problem with a bread machine recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (i.e. using right bread machine settings), using the correct amount of an ingredient (i.e. accidentally adding a teaspoon when a tablespoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (i.e. bread machine yeast versus regular yeast or bread flour versus all purpose flour), etc. Don’t “wing” things with recipes.
• If you start substituting ingredients (i.e. different types of flour), you are experimenting and should not expect similar results to the recipe shown above. You can expect some successes but more potential disappointments when you start to experiment with recipes.
• Be aware that some bread recipes may differ slightly between different types of bread machines. Therefore, please read your bread machine manufacturer’s  instructions for basic bread recipes (i.e. white bread or whole wheat bread) as these are more likely to work on your individual bread machine.

• If you haven’t used your bread machine in a long time, please buy some NEW bread machine yeast before making your bread. Old yeast can die or lose its potency and this will lead to bread that does not rise properly. Bread machine yeast may not be viable if it has been sitting in your pantry for years.
• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (i.e. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (i.e. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (i.e. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a bread machine. The bread pan and the rest of the bread machine can get very hot during the baking process. This means that the bread pan and bread machine is likely to be very hot when you attempt to remove a baked good from the bread machine and/or bread pan.
• For more easy bread machine recipes (i.e. white bread, whole wheat bread, banana bread, pizza dough & cornbread), please visit Bread Dad’s section on Bread Machine Recipes. 

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Reference Sources

• Wikipedia, Bread Machine
• Wikipedia, Italian Seasoning

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. Beginning bakers learn a lot from your baking comments, tips & recipe variations. Moreover, it is ALWAYS great to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes!!!

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• Bread Machine – French Bread
• Bread Machine – Onion Bread
• Bread Machine – Pizza Dough
• Bread Machine – Rolls
• Bread Machine – White Bread
• Bread Machine – Whole Wheat Bread

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