This is a bread either fresh or toasted that lends itself to a huge range of toppings. Think fresh vine ripened tomato, slow roasted tomatoes, sautéed peppers or your favourite salami.
Ingredients
550gm sourdough bread dough. This is half the dough made with 650gm of flour recipe here.
120gm pitted black olives. I use kalamata olives
2 tbsp fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped
50gm extra flour
Method
I usually make a small loaf of sourdough by dividing the dough my standard sourdough recipe in half as per the link above. Divide the dough as soon as you have finished kneading the dough and before fermentation. I make a normal white loaf from one half and an olive sourdough from the other. I normally use the same technique when making other flavoured loaves like the Fig and Fennel and Raisin and Walnut Sourdough. Alternatively you can make a small dough by halving the recipe in the link above or, make a full dough then double the amount of olives and rosemary to make a big loaf of Olive and Rosemary sourdough.
For the smaller loaves I use bannetons that measure 260mm long by 130mm wide and 60mm deep. These comfortably hold up to 750gm loaves. For the full dough I use a banneton that is 370mm long by 150mm wide and 7mm deep. This will hold around a 1200gm loaf. Amazon sell banneton baskets online or check out this website.
Method (continued)
Chop the rosemary.
Strain and rinse the olives then add them to to the rosemary.
Pat the dough out into a rough rectangle and scatter the olives and rosemary over. Scatter about one tablespoon of flour over the olives then fold the dough over the top.
Start kneading the olives into the dough. You may need to add a little more flour as the juice from the olives can make the dough too wet.
Knead until all the olives and rosemary are well incorporated and evenly distributed.
Place the finished dough into a bowl, cover with a damp cloth and allow to ferment for 3 hours.
Shape and place into a proving basket, in a baking tin or on a baking sheet. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to prove for about three hours or overnight in the refrigerator.
Set your oven to 220C.
When bread is fully proven slash with a sharp knife and bake for approximately 35 minutes until the loaf is fully baked and golden.
Enjoy!
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