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This Black Olive Bread recipe produces rustic loaves with Mediterranean flavors and an artisan character.

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Makes 2 large loaves (3¼ lbs each)

I came up with this bread about four years ago, when I was on vacation – yeah, because that’s what I do on vacation: bake bread! Anyway, even after 4 years, I am still in regularly asked to make it again. Olive Bread goes great with cheese and can stand up to and pair well with strong flavors. It’s also man enough for your most ambitious sandwich. But you could just as easily enjoy it with nothing more than a dipping bowl of seasoned oil.

Ingredients for the Sponge

½ cup spring or filtered water
½ tsp active dry yeast
¾ cup light wheat flour^[1]

Ingredients for the Final Dough

2½ cups spring or filtered water
¼ cup olive oil (optionally)
The rest of the packet of active dry yeast
1 Tbs salt
Black olives;^[2]15 oz. minimum, 30 oz. maximum; drained, pitted, and chopped
1 red onion (optionally), chopped, sautéed, and cooled
½ cup (packed) fresh thyme (coriander, marjoram, or oregano are interesting substitutions)^[3]
5¼ – 6¼ cups^[3] light wheat flour

Directions

1. Make the sponge: the water should be warm, but not hot.^[4] Do this by either nuking it, or by mixing cold and hot water until you’ve arrived at the right temperature. Put the water in a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it sit for 1 minute, then stir. Add the flour and stir just until blended. Then, stir it vigorously for 100 strokes. It should be smooth, thick, and sticky – the consistency of a very thick chocolate shake, if milkshakes were sticky. Add water to achieve this consistency, if needed. Scrape down the sides with a spatula. Place a damp cloth over it, and let it sit in a warm spot for anywhere from 2 to 10 hours. It should double in volume, appear bubbly, and smell yeasty or beer-like.

2. Mix and knead the final dough: scrape the sponge into a large mixing bowl. Add all ingredients except the flour. Stir. Begin adding flour by heaping half-cupsful, stirring after each. Eventually, it will become too difficult to stir. At that point, dump it onto a floured surface and continue adding successively smaller amounts of flour, mixing it together with a bench scraper and your hands. In time, it will come to the point that you can knead it. Continue kneading and adding flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Note that in the beginning, you’re adding relatively large amounts of flour, and it doesn’t take long to incorporate them. As you move along, it takes longer and longer to incorporate the flour, and you add less and less of it each time. The final dough should be able to sustain a several-minute kneading without becoming sticky. 3. Clean out and dry the mixing bowl. Then, butter (or oil) it. Place the dough in the bowl, then remove it from the bowl, turn it upside down, and place it back in the bowl. This gets butter all over the dough. Cover the bowl with a damp towel or plastic wrap, and let it sit until the dough doubles in size. I often let his happen in the fridge overnight. In that case, it has to come to room temperature before proceeding.

4. Punch the dough down. Tip the bowl on its side and pull the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide it in half and form each half into a ball. Cover each of them with oiled plastic wrap, and let them rest for 30 minutes.

5. Form each half into whatever final shape you want, or put each into a buttered bread pans. Lightly flour them, and cover them with oiled plastic wrap. Let them rise until they pass the ripe test, about 2 hours.

6. At least 20 minutes before the loaves are ready for baking, pre-heat the oven to 450°F. Just before placing the loaves in the oven, score them. This is mainly for aesthetic purposes; you can skip it if you want. Just after placing the loaves in the oven, throw ½-cup of water onto the oven floor, and quickly close the door. Bake the loaves for 15-20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 400°F and continue to bake for 15-20 minutes more. The finished loaves should be richly browned. Test the loaves by removing them from the pan and tapping them on the bottom. They should sound hollow. If they need more time, place them back into the oven, in or out of the pans. Let them cool on a rack, out of the pans. The inside of the bread continues to cook for several minutes as it rests on the rack. Wait until the loaf feels completely room temperature. If you cut into it then and the inside is still just the coziest warm, huge bonus.

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Notes

Black Olive Bread Recipe

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