Soft & Fluffy Italian Sandwich Bread Recipe (Loaf + Rolls)

Looking for an Italian sandwich bread recipe that’s easy, authentic, and just like something an Italian nonna would make? You’ve found it.

Last year, I started baking bread, and this was the recipe I kept coming back to. I even made it for our Christmas Eve dinner, and it disappeared in no time. Whether you need breakfast rolls, soft sandwich bread for lunch, or dinner rolls to share with family, this versatile recipe delivers—it can be shaped into a loaf, round buns, sub rolls, and more.

If that sounds like the bread you’ve been searching for, let me show you how to make it. I promise your family will love it, and it might just become your favorite Italian sandwich bread recipe.

What Bread Is Used for Italian Sandwiches?

There are so many I can’t possibly list all the best Italian bread for sandwiches, especially since every region has its own varieties – both rolls and loafs. Instead, I will list my favorites as well as a few popular ones. 

Italian milk bread rolls – These are called panini al latte and they are kids’ favorites. You’ll find them in their school lunch boxes with ham and cheese, or on their afternoon snack plates with some jam or nutella.

Italian soft sandwich bread – These are especially used to make tramezzini and pressed sandwiches. Tramezzini are sandwiches that have not been toasted, often with the side crust removed, and stuffed with cold fillings like ham and cheese, or egg and tuna.

Michetta or rosetta bread – This is a hard crust roll with an airy fluffy interior, that’s best eaten with just mortadella or cotto ham. Of course, you can also make a Caprese sandwich with this. These are also delicious stuffed with hot baked or fried vegetables, like eggplant, zucchini and pumpkin and topped with cheese.

Pinsa – This is technically the base of the Roman pizza, but it’s also used for sandwiches. I personally love making a ham or tuna sandwich, and adding sliced tomatoes, avocado, and cheese. Montasio cheese is especially delicious with this bread. The result is a thinner and lighter focaccia sandwich.

Focaccia – Focaccia bread is obviously one of the most popular and loved for a reason. I love mine with tuna, tomatoes, cheese, and avocado. However, blue cheese and salami with rucola are another perfect combo.

Ciabatta – Everyone knows about ciabattas, and these are the best to make Caprese sandwiches with tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil leaves, and pesto.

Schiacciatelle – You likely never heard of these. If you like ciabatta you’ll like these, although in my opinion these are better. They are slightly flatter, crunchier on the outside and fluffier on the inside, and they also have a nicer taste. They are famous in Sicily, enjoyed as sandwich rolls and dinner rolls.

Cucciddatu – Another Sicilian bread, perfect for sandwiches but also to eat with your dinners, and do the scarpetta (meaning the act of dipping your bread in the sauce that’s left on your plate). This is a popular Sicilian rustic bread, made at home or bought at local bakeries, the kind of bread you’ll find in most households on a day to day basis. It’s the bread I grew up eating with my dinner, but it’s also delicious as a sandwich, especially when piping hot. The best way to eat it is with plenty of high quality Italian extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, black olives, and melted cheese.

The recipe we are making today will give you the first two types of bread listed above. That’s because we’ll make both rolls and a loaf, but feel free to only try one type the first time around. 

This means you can enjoy it as morning rolls with jam and nutella spreads, in school lunch boxes with ham and cheese, with tuna and mayo, but also with your dinner, for burgers, hot dogs, and even party rolls.

Italian Sandwich Bread Ingredients

Manitoba Flour – I first tried 0 flour, or strong flour, to make this Italian bread. While I didn’t like the idea that this is high in gluten, as someone who tries avoiding eating too much gluten, this flour is a must have ingredient to achieve the perfect soft fluffy Italian bread rolls. I use Barilla, or Caputo. This other flour has good ratings.

I will attempt a gluten free recipe in the future, and if it’s good I will share it with you, perhaps in my newsletter – are you subscribed?

00 Flour – Barilla 00 flour is the one I use for all my baking, from pizzas to cakes, so I love that this recipe includes it too. If you can’t find Barilla, I also suggest Caputo, though any other 00 flour will do.

Dry Yeast – This is another must-use ingredient when making bread in my opinion, and that comes from someone who is intolerant to yeast. I still eat it but I think that using dry yeast vs fresh, especially at home, helps. My favorite dry yeast is Paneangeli Mastro Fornaio. You can use this for your pizza too. It belongs to the same line of baking mixes I use for my cakes. In case you’d like to try it, for cakes I use Paneangeli Lievito Vaniliato.

Sugar – Italian panini al latte, which was the inspiration for this recipe, are technically sweet. That’s why they are perfect for breakfast too. But because the sugar content is so low, they don’t really taste that sweet, so they are perfect as savoury bread too. The sugar is important for the yeast activation, and helps make the bread fluffier and crusty. I have tried this recipe with both coconut sugar (a healthier option) and regular, and they both work.

Butter – Bread doesn’t normally include butter, but because this bread has a brioche-like consistency, butter is essential too. It makes it extra tender but also more fragrant. However, you don’t need that much, in case you are worried about the calories! You can use regular butter, but I am using dairy free.

Milk – This is the main liquid component of this recipe. Normally, you would use water to make bread, but using milk yields a richer, more flavourful but also softer bread. I am using dairy free rice milk, but you can use regular. If you go for a dairy free option, I suggest you steer away from milks that have a bold flavor – such as coconut or even almond. That’s perfect if you want that result, especially for breakfast and sweet snacks. But for your dinner rolls, I would use milk with a more neutral taste.

Salt – No baking recipe is ever complete without a pinch of salt. And when it comes to bread, salt is essential for adding flavor. After all, we are not making pane sciocco, which is a Tuscan bread known for being flavourless because it has no salt. The mix of sugar and salt gives our Italian sandwich bread a beautiful balanced taste, perfect to accompany both sweet and savory meals.

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Actual Quantities

This recipe makes 16 medium-large Italian sandwich bread rolls, also known as Italian milk rolls or panini al latte.

You can also use it to make two medium-sized loaves. For that you will need 4.5 x 8.5 inch pans.

Or you can split the recipe in two and get 8 rolls and 1 sandwich bread loaf.

But that’s not it! This same dough also makes the most delicious focaccia style pizza. I have a separate recipe for that.

Whichever option you choose, here are the ingredients quantities you’ll need to use.

• 1 cup and 1 tablespoon Manitoba flour (140 gr)
• 2 and ¾ cups 00 flour (330 gr)
• 1 sachet dry yeast (7 gr)
• ¼ cup sugar (I am using white granulated table sugar; 50 gr)
• 60 gr melted butter
• 1 and ¼  cup milk at room temperature (300 ml)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil (enough for greasing the surface and bowls)

For the egg wash to brush the top of the bread:

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoon milk (25 ml)

PIN IT FOR LATER

How to Make Italian Sandwich Bread

Let me start by saying that this recipe is really simple. For years, I had been craving making my own Italian milk rolls, but I never did because I thought the recipe was going to be complex. Well, that’s far from it.

The only thing to expect is that there are a few steps involved, so you’ll need to be at home for a few hours when making this recipe. However, in between the steps you can go about your day, so don’t let this intimidate you and stop you from trying this phenomenal bread recipe.

With that said, let me show you how to make it.

Equipment needed

• 1 extra large bowl (mine is 10 inch diameter and 6 inch high)
• 2 large bowls (about 8 inch)
• 1 small microwave-safe bowl
• 1 small bowl
• 2 or 3 tablespoons
• 1 knife
• 1 teaspoon 
• Measurement cups
• 1 dough scraper or cutter 
• Cling foil
• Two clean kitchen towels
• 1 13×9 inch flat baking dish or larger (or 2 if you are making 16 rolls)
• 1 4.5 x 8.5 inch loaf pan (or 2 if you are making 2 loaves)
• Baking paper

How to make the bread dough

1. Mix the flours, sugar and yeast in your extra large bowl. Make sure your yeast is not expired nor opened. The sachet should be sealed, or this could stop your bread dough from rising.

2. Add the milk and mix with a tablespoon.

3. Use your dough cutter to mix the dough, as this makes it easier when the dough gets sticky.

4. Melt the butter in your microwave for 15 to 20 seconds at 600W, or until melted but not too hot.

5. Add the butter into your bowl with the ingredients, and continue mixing with the dough cutter.

6. Add the salt and continue kneading for 5 minutes with the dough cutter first, and then with your clean hands. I like to use a large chopping board drizzled with some olive oil, though you could easily do it with the cutter alone in the bowl.

7.  Split the dough into two, knead each into a ball.

8. Oil the bottom and sides of the two large bowls.

9. Add one dough ball in the centre of each bowl.

10. Cover each bowl with cling foil.

11. Place both bowls in your oven for about 2 hours. Turn the oven light on, but the oven switched off. In Summer, or when it’s hot, it might take slightly less.

How to make the bread rolls

1. After the two hours have passed your dough should have increased to touch the cling foil, and might even look wet and bubbly. Don’t worry, that’s normal.

2. Take one bowl out of the oven, and leave the other in with the light off. Remember that the oven must never be on at this point.

3. Prepare a clean surface and dust it with 00 flour.

4. Remove the cling foil from the dough bowl, and gently flip the dough onto the floured surface.

5. Add some flour on top with your hands, and knead the dough briefly to create two long dough cylinders. Depending on how sticky the dough is (it usually is fairly sticky), I like to lightly flour my cylinders before cutting them.

6. Divide each cylinder in 4 equal pieces. 

7. Then take each piece at a time and do this: on your floured surface, with your floured hands,  take the small piece of dough and fold the outside in about 4 times, clockwise. Then take the folded dough and use your clean palms to shape it into a ball. You can see this movement in my short video below.

8. Repeat for all the other 7 pieces.

9. Once ready, place all of the bread rolls on your flat baking dish with plenty of space between them. If you are using a 13×9 inch flat dish, you should be able to fit 4 well spaced rolls on each side.

10. Cover the dish with the bread rolls with a clean towel. Leave them to continue rising for at least another 30 minutes, up to an hour. You can put them back in the oven switched off, this time with the light off.

11. In the meantime, you can repeat the same steps above for the dough in your second bowl, that’s still in the oven (off with the light on).

Or use that second dough to make your Italian sandwich bread loaf, following the steps in the next section.

12. Let’s go back to the bread rolls covered with your kitchen towel for 30 minutes. Take them out of the oven, remove the kitchen towel, and you’ll see they have gotten bigger. They shouldn’t be touching each other though. If that happens, it means you haven’t left enough space. You can space them better before baking, or you can bake them and then pull them apart after. It’s not a problem.

13. Prepare the egg wash with 1 egg and 2 tablespoon room temperature milk whisked with a fork. Take a kitchen brush and brush some of the egg wash on top of each roll. Try not to do the sides, or it will drip down and leave yellow marks on your final rolls; that’s what happened with mine. The taste is still delicious, but it does affect the way they look ever so slightly. 

14. Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes.

15. Bake the bread rolls for 13 minutes. I like to place mine at the bottom of the oven. If you like yours extra crispy on top, you can transfer to the top and leave them a few minutes there at the end.

Take them out of the oven. Your Italian sandwich buns are ready to enjoy. Let them cool for 15 minutes, and you can then dig in.

How to make the Italian Sandwich Bread Loaf

If you’ve chosen to use half the dough or all of it to make Italian sliced bread for sandwiches, here are the steps to follow. 

PS: If your loaf hasn’t risen enough yet, refer to my tips below. It shouldn’t happen though!

1. Take the bowl with the dough, remove the cling foil, and gently flip it on your floured surface.

2. Use a little flour and knead the dough for a couple of minutes. Then shape it into an elongated loaf, almost a cylinder like we did for our rolls, but bigger.

3. Transfer it to your loaf pan, covered with baking paper.

4. Cover it with a clean towel, and put it back in the oven for 30 minutes. The oven must be off, and the light on. Or if your bread needs extra rising, you can add a pot of boiling water. I explain more in my tips below.

5. After 30 minutes have passed, take the loaf out of the oven, and turn the oven on at 180 degrees Celsius.

6. Remove the kitchen towel, and brush the top of your loaf with the egg wash. Refer to step 13 above (in the previous section) for how to make this.

7. Once the oven has pre-heated for about 20 minutes, you can bake your loaf for 30 minutes, or until golden and sounds hollow upon tapping on it with your knuckles.

8. After those 30 minutes, take the loaf out, remove it from the loaf pan and transfer it on a flat baking dish with parchment paper. Put it back in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes. This will help cook the sides and make them crispier.

9. Once ready, take your loaf out of the oven (or loaves, if you choose to use both dough balls to make just loaf bread), and let it cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing it.

Your Italian sandwich bread loaf is now ready to be sliced and enjoyed. I hope you love it!

Tips & Notes to Get the Best Results

What to do if your dough is not rising?

If for some reason your dough is not rising, when placed in the oven switched off with the light on, try this trick. You can boil some water in a small pot, and put it at the bottom of the oven, with the bowls with your dough on the upper level. Close the oven door and keep the light off. The heat from the boiling water should help them rise faster.

What to do if your dough is too sticky?

Knead it with some flour before dividing it into the two cylinders. Flour each cylinder lightly, and then flour each small dough ball lightly again. Then knead it into balls as explained above.

How to Store Italian Bread

If I am making extra bread I would store part of it in the freezer. First, I let it cool completely and then I will put it into plastic bags, in portions of 2 or 4 buns each.

I can tell you that after freezing and defrosting it, this bread is as delicious. Just re-heat it in the oven, or toast it.

I will determine how much bread we’ll need for the next two days. Once the bread has cooled down completely, I will leave that amount of rolls on the baking dish covered with a clean cloth. I will keep it on the counter or in the oven switched off.

You could also store it in a plastic bag or in a brown bag, if you prefer. Just check daily that the moisture level is not increasing, as this will make your buns moldy. 

Serving Suggestions

These are my favorite ways to eat the bread rolls:

1. Dipped in a dip made with 1 part Italian extra virgin olive oil and ⅓ part Italian Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.
2. With my favorite salmon dip. I make this simply by mixing one freshly baked salmon slice with 150 gr cream cheese, 2 or 3 teaspoons mayonnaise, a little Italian extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.
3. With ham and cheese.
4. With tomato, tuna and cheese.
5. With tuna and mayonnaise.
6. With butter and jam.
7. With nutella.
8. With butter, enjoyed with soups and stews.
9. As mini Margherita pizza bases, topped with tomato sauce, and sprinkled cheese.
10. As burger buns.

As for the Italian sandwich bread loaf, you can slice and eat that in all the ways above.

On top of that, you can also make party tramezzini, by dividing them into triangles. And you can also cut thicker slices and use them to make French toast.

More Italian Recipes

If you liked this recipe, please give it a heart and share it with a friend or two who love bread.

You can find more easy and quick Italian recipes in my weekly newsletter. If you are not yet subscribed, you can do so by scrolling up or down this post. You’ll find a subscribe box where you can enter your email address. I will be sending the first one on the 28th September. 

In the meantime, here are all the Italian recipes on this blog. But there are plenty more coming.

Italian Sausage Soup Pasta

Italian Pumpkin Bread Recipe With Amaretti Streusel

Italian Mustaccioli Chocolate Cookies

Italian Ricotta Cookies – 3 Flavors

Thank you for reading. I hope we get to connect through the newsletter. If you have any questions about these recipes, you’ll be able to reply to my emails or send me a direct message on Substack.

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