Olive Bread

See that right there? That there is a crisp, airy bread studded with nuggets of salty goodness. Yup. olive bread. I love olive bread, I do. One thing I don't love about olive bread? How friggin' expensive it is. It was the impetus for my decision to conquer my baking fears and bake bread. That and somehow the flour fairies had visited my house and deposited a bizarrely large collection of flours.

I looked around for a simple, no knead, idiot-proof recipe that a non-baker like me would have no trouble with. After a few trial runs, one with wheat flour (good but a little too earthy for my taste) I honed a super easy minimal step required recipe.

I'm kind of addicted now. Fresh bread for morning toast? You betcha! You could easily omit the olives or go crazy adding seeds and nuts to your liking.

No Knead Olive Bread

1 3/4 cups of room temperature water
1 tsp of yeast, 1 tsp sugar & 1 tsp of salt
4 cups of all-purpose flour (plus 2 tbs extra)

1/4 cup olives pitted and chopped

In a medium or large, non-stick pot add the water, yeast and sugar. Stir. Add the flour (minus the 2 tbs) and salt. Using a wooden spoon mix thoroughly (it will be a bit 'wetter' than most bread dough. Don't add flour. It's meant to be this way!)  Let it sit in the pot, uncovered, at room temperature for an hour and a half.

Press the olives between paper towels to remove any surface moisture. Sprinkle with the 2 tbs flour.

At this point your dough should have some bubbles and be a little puffy. Add the olives and stir the dough again. Cover the pot and put it in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Bake bread for 40-45 minutes.

Let the bread cool in the pot for a few minutes before turning it out onto a baking rack.

That's it. Seriously! Enjoy.

EB

Comments

[Victoria]

Your bread looks beautiful! I have been making my own Jim Lahey no-knead bread since before Christmas. It is addictive.

Sunday morning's breakfast was Eggs Benedict made with Irish, instead of Canadian, bacon (much better) on top of my own bread toasted.

[Lydia]

Olive bread always reminds me of a little bakery in Venice, Italy, around the corner from an apartment we rented about 10 years ago. Every morning we'd go to the bakery and buy fresh olive rolls, and then to the cheese shop for some local cheese. It was the perfect breakfast.

[EB]

Lydia-
That sounds divine! What a perfect way to start any day.

[EB]

So.... youre coming over to cook on Sunday? Great.

[Bayareafoodblog]

What kind of pot did you bake it in?

[EB]

I use a medium size Cuisinart non-stick pot. Im pretty sure you could use any pot. You might need to butter a not-non-stick :)

[cookiecrumb]

Food Porn! So incredibly perfect.

[EB]

And really... who doesnt like some good porn?

[Healthy Foods Blog]

You're not a baker? I'm impressed because you managed to bake a simply amazing bread. Well, I hope I can be as good as you.

- Tera

[EB]

Oh Tera you are too sweet!

[Spice Rack]

Nice recipe! By the way can I use french chocolate for this recipe? I think it would be perfect for this recipe too. and Besides that's all I have in my under cabinet spice rack.

[Michael Franco]

Lovely bread, Erin. All that's needed is a glass of wine!

[EB]

Everything is better with wine Michael!

[Michael Franco]

Ha! So true, Erin, a girl after my own heart!

[Air Jordan shoes]

Warm words is I like, I really like your blog!

[Stephen]

could you please messenger over a thick slice! I'll warm it and devour it with Spanish evo and or some formage blanc. Damn that looks good!

[EB]

Ha! I totally could couldnt I! I have to say of all the breads popping out of the oven lately... it was the most quickly devoured. Doesnt it look so purdy?!

[Julia]

Simply brilliant. I have made a lot of no knead bread but it never occurred to me to just add olives.