Tomato basil bread recipe, homemade and with no mixer needed. Make this by hand, it’s easy and a simple way to get healthy homemade yeast bread fresh from the oven.
Tomato basil bread recipes that I found tend to have sundried tomatoes or diced tomatoes in them, but I wanted to try a different ingredient for this one.
Plus, I wanted to make a more sandwich-type bread instead of a baguette or rustic loaf.
This bread is really flavorful, and it’s a dense loaf that could be used for sandwiches or just eating as a snack.
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Tomato Basil Bread Recipe.
This makes two regular loaves, about 8″ or 9″ long.
Make sure to scroll down to read tips about making this bread!
Tomato Basil Bread
Equipment
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 1 whisk
- 1 wooden spoon
- 1 measuring cup for liquids
- 1 measuring cup for dry ingredients
- 1 set of measuring spoons
- 2 loaf pans, 8" or 9" long
- 1 spatula or knife for dividing the dough
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp dry yeast
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1 1/4 cups warm milk
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 egg
- 3 Tbsp dry basil
- 1 small can tomato paste
- 2 Tbsp salt
- 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups AP flour
- butter for greasing the loaf pans
- olive oil for oiling the counter
Instructions
- Put the warm water in a mixing bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it to soften the yeast.
- Add the warm milk, honey, basil, tomato paste, and egg in the bowl and whisk everything together.
- Add 2 cups of the flour and whisk for two minutes.
- Start adding more of the flour about 1/2 cup at a time and whisk until it gets too hard to stir with the whisk.
- Change to the wooden spoon and continue to add flour until the dough ball pull away from the bowl and forms a ball that isn't too wet.
- Sprinkle some flour on the counter and turn the dough ball onto the counter.
- Knead the dough, adding a little flour at a time to make sure it isn't sticking.
- Knead for about 8-10 minutes, until small blisters are formed on the outside of the dough.
- Place the dough into a clean, oiled bowl and turn it to cover the whole dough ball with oil.
- Cover the bowl with a tightly-woven kitchen towel and let it rise for about an hour, until it's doubled in size.
- Prep the loaf pans by greasing them with butter.
- Shape the loaves (use one of the two methods below) and put them in the loaf pans.
- Cover the loaves with the kitchen towel and let them rise for another 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F about 20 minutes before the loaves are finished rising.
- Make a long cut in the center of the loaf lengthwise if you want it to have a more open top shape.
- Bake the loaves for 30-35 minutes, until it's around 190F inside the loaf (test it with an instant-read thermometer inserted into the bottom of the loaf.)
- Remove the loaves from the pans and cool on a rack.
Tips for making the Tomato Basil Bread.
This recipe makes a dense loaf, so if you want it to be a little less wet, cut a slit in the top of the bread before it bakes. That will help it to open up at the top and allow some steam to escape. I like bread that’s a little denser, so I left it without cutting it.
For this recipe, I used skim milk because that’s what I had on hand. You can use whatever kind of milk you want to, it shouldn’t affect the recipe too much.
The amount of fat in the recipe will affect how soft it is, so if you want a softer crust you can brush it with butter before it’s baked.
You can use fresh basil, but dried works fine and gives the bread a really nice flavor.
This is a wet dough, so you’ll be adding flour as you knead it to keep it from sticking. Use a bench scraper to clean the counter as you knead the dough to keep it from getting gummed up.
When you wash your hands, rub some flour in your hands first to remove as much wet dough from them as you can before putting them under the water. Too much dough on your hands will be hard to remove.
Another tip for cleaning the bowls and your hands is to use a regular spoon to scrape the wet dough off of your hands and the bowl as you run hot water over them. This will remove most of the dough even if it’s gummy, and then you can wash your hands normally.
How to form the loaves.
There are two ways to form the loaves if you want to have a regular loaf of bread that you can slice and use for sandwiches.
Method one: Form an oval with the dough.
Divide the dough into two equal parts, then take one of them and roll the dough into an oval shape that’s about as long as the pan you’re using.
Place the dough in the buttered pan and shape the ends of the loaf into a flatter shape by gently pressing it.
Cover the pan and let the dough rise for 45 minutes.
Cut a slit in the top of the loaf if you want the bread to open up in a more square shape as it bakes.
Bake the bread for 35 minutes, or until it reaches 190F internally. Take it out of the loaf pan and insert an instant-read thermometer into the bottom to test the temperature. If it’s too cool, put it back in for a little longer.
Method two: Rolling the dough into a loaf shape.
This is how I made these loaves…Divide the dough into two equal parts, and put one half onto an oiled countertop.
Press or roll the dough out into a square that’s about 10×10″.
Roll the dough toward you to create a tube.
Pinch the dough together along the seam in the back.
Pull the ends of the tube around to the back and pinch the dough together in the back.
Put the dough in the buttered pans. I made these a little too long so I had to push them into the pan a little, which made them bulge up on the ends.
Try to make the loaf as evenly thick throughout the length of the loaf as possible.
If you want the bread to open up into a more square shape, cut a slit into the top on the middle along the length of the loaf.
If you want it to be rounder, you can leave it with no cuts on the surface.
Cooling and storing the loaves.
Take the loaves out of the pans and put them on a cooling rack after they’re fully baked (to 190F internally.)
Wrap them in plastic wrap or in a ziplock bag when they’re fully-cooled and store them at room temperature or freeze them.
If you want to freeze them, it would be good to wrap the loaf in plastic wrap first, then to put it in a ziplock bag to keep as much air out as possible.
To thaw the bread, set the loaf out at room temperature wrapped up, and let it warm up, then remove it from the wrapping.
