This olive bread was very popular among my friends. It takes a few hours to bake, and can be a little tricky at times, but creates a fantastic flavoured bread.
An important thing to remember when baking using olives is that they will release a lot of moisture during the kneading process, so it can help to use a little more flour than needed in order to prevent the dough from becoming wet, sticky and unworkable.
[one_half] 1) Pour the bread flour into a mixing bowl. Add the dried yeast to one side of the bowl, the salt to the other, and then add the olive oil and around 3/4 of the water. Turn the mixture around with your fingers, adding extra water as needed, until it forms a dough and all of the flour from the bowl is incorporated.2) Scrape the dough onto a lightly oiled surface and knead for five to 10 minutes, until the mixture becomes smooth and stretchy. Then leave the mixture in a lightly oiled bowl, covered with a tea towel, for at least one hour.
3) Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface, flatten with your hands, and pour the olives onto the mixture. Knead the dough until the olives are incorporated evenly in the mixture – you may need to add more flour at this point, as the olives will bring a lot of moisture into the bread. Then leave the bread in the bowl for another 30 minutes.
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]
[alert type=”blue”]
You will need:
500g strong white bread flour (having a little extra may help if you find the dough becomes wet and hard to work with)
10g instant-action yeast
10g salt
40ml olive oil, plus extra for kneading
300ml lukewarm water
Around 200g olives, roughly chopped (any type will do – I like to use a mixture of green and black olives)
[/alert] [/one_half_last] 4) Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface again, and “knock back” – turn the dough inwards on itself until the air is all knocked out and the dough is smooth again. Then form into a ball, and place onto a piece of baking parchment or silicone paper on a baking tray. Leave for another hour to rise, and preheat your oven to 230°C or Gas Mark 7.5) Bake the bread for roughly 30 minutes, or until it makes a hollow sound when you tap the bottom. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
