Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Olive Bread

I love olives. And bread. So, when I ran across a recipe for olive bread, it went right to the top of my "to bake" list.

The recipe takes more than 12 hours from start to finish, but the hands on time is minimal. The night before baking the bread, I combined bread flour, yeast, olives, and water. After covering the mixture and letting the yeast work its magic overnight, I worked the dough into two loaves, and placed them on a lightly oiled baking sheet to rise for a couple more hours.

Then it was time to bake the bread. While the recipe said to put the dough in a preheated pot to bake, I didn't want to bake any of my pots in the oven. So, instead, I preheated the oven to 400F, placed the loaves (still on the oiled baking sheet) inside, then reduced the heat to 375F and baked them until their crusts were golden and an inserted thermometer read 210F (a method I borrowed from Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian).

The recipe yielded two good-sized loaves of olive bread. I used the first to make some toasted sandwiches with provolone and chopped peppers. (A similar sandwich, made with regular bread, can be found here.) Since I was about to leave town for Thanksgiving, I put the second loaf in the freezer -- I'm pleased to report that it emerged from the icebox with the same "fresh baked" texture it had when it went in, and that I'll be enjoying more olive bread sandwiches this week.

8 comments:

kat said...

oh this looks delicious. i also love olives. and i love bread. therefore i love olive bread.

Monica said...

Wow, that bread looks incredible. I want your sandwich! I usually keep my bread pretty basic (sometimes I'll add seeds... and once I was even so bold as to add raisins). But this makes me think I need to get a little more creative.

Simply Life said...

Oh my gosh this looks like the most amazing bread to use in a sandwich!

Olga said...

I used to hate olives...that was a long time ago: the bread and the sandwich look great!

Thessa said...

This post definitely triggered a craving for olive bread!

www.dhaleb.com said...

Wow! I've never made my own bread before and this looks scrumptious! Too bad all I have is a toaster oven. But once I upgrade to a grown-up oven, Im definitely making this!

Miriam said...

I made this bread today and it's simply delicious! And easy! If you don't mind I will create a post in my blog and point to your blog.
Delicious!!!!!! Thanks Beatrice!!!!
Miriam

Beatrice said...

Of course -- I'm glad you liked it!

B