Mediterranean Black Olive Bread

Submitted by bmcnichol

"This bread takes some time to prepare but is well worth it."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 45mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Yields: 1 loaf

ingredients

• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon italian seasoning
• 1⁄2 cup chopped black olives
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1⁄4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal

directions

1. In a bowl, mix together flour, yeast, sugar, salt, garlic powder, italian seasoning, black olives, olive oil, and water.
2. Turn out dough on a floured board.
3. Knead until smooth- about 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Let rise about 45 minutes, until it doubles in size and punch down.
5. Knead for another 5 to 10 minutes an let rise for 30 minutes, until it doubles in size.
6. Round the dough on kneading board.
7. Place dough upside down in a bowl lined with a lint-free, well floured towel.
8. Let rise until double in size.
9. While the bread is rising for the third time, put a pan of water in the bottom of the oven.
10. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
11. Gently turn loaf out onto a sheet pan that has been lightly oiled and dusted with cornmeal.
12. Bake loaf at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes.
13. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake for 30 more minutes, or until done.

Reviews

[dripdripsplat]

I took Karen's advice and did the first 6 steps in my ABM, and then picked up on Step 7. I made some changes, using sun-dried tomato oil instead of the olive oil, and using 1/4 cup kalamata olives & 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes instead of the 1/2 cup olives. The result was ABSOLUTE DELICIOUSNESS! And the bread looked amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

[Ef B.]

Great bread. I doubled the olives, and replaced 1/3 of the flour with WW flour. It makes the bread more "rustic". Thank you for a great recipe!

 

[barbara in Tx]

I didnt change anything the first time I made this, now I make it all the time. I do add more olives because we love them. Thank you for sharing it with us.

 

[KellyMac6]

This was soooo good! It doesn't take too long, I started as soon as I got home from work and it was ready by dinner at 8:30. I used canned chopped black olives that had been drained and they were perfect. I also mixed this up in my KitchenAid making it extra easy. We just had this with pasta but next time I would make some sort of tapanade or sun-dried tomato spread to put on it. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you! Made for PRMR tag.

 

[elvidgeade]

I have made this with very little deviation (substitution of flour due to lack of bread flour). Always impressive.