Dutch Oven Olive Bread

Hello from California! IE, Covid19 Lockdown Land.

Here in California, we have some of the best farmer’s markets anywhere on earth. My favorite is the Saturday morning market at the Vista Courthouse. One of my favorite vendors is a bakery that sells the most amazing olive loaf you’ll ever eat. I’ve been missing that bread the past few weeks, so I decided to make my one.

It came out amazing! Here is the recipe; enjoy!

Olive Bread

1 cup pitted kalamata olives, coursely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 1/4 cups bread flour (I use King Arthur exclusively)
2 tsp. Yeast
2 tsp kosher, or sea salt
1 1/3 cups warm water (100-110F)
2 Tbs. sugar
2 Tbs. Excellent quality extra virgin olive oil

Toss the olives and garlic together and set aside. Into the bowl of a stand mixer whisk together the  flour and salt. In a measuring cup, whisk together water, sugar, oil, and yeast. Add the dough hook to the mixer. With the mixer running add the yeast mixture to the flour. Let knead for 5-8 minutes. Then add the olive mix. Knead another minute. Turn the dough and stray olive bits onto a lightly floured surface, and hand knead until you have a smooth dough in which the olive pieces are fairly evenly distributed (it’s not gonna be perfect).

Place in a very large greased (I just use pan spray) bowl. Cover and let rise 2 hours.


Remove the dough from the bowl and gently knead for a minute or two. Form into a tight ball and place on an oiled piece of parchment paper. Cover with the large bowl you used for the first rise. Let rice 75-90 minutes.

45 minutes before baking, place a Dutch oven on the lower middle rack or you oven. Turn the heat to 500F.

Once the dough is done rising, gently spread a thin layer of flour over its surface. Slash the dough on the top, and lower the dough into the Dutch oven, turn the oven to 450F, and cover the Dutch oven.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the lid, then the oven down to 400F, and bake 20 minutes more. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and cool.


Enjoy!!!


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