Whole Grain Olive Bread
When you get tired of ordinary whole-grain bread, olives come to the rescue! The interesting shape and aromatic olive flavour will make your bread intriguing once again. This recipe is very simple and suitable for beginners.
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking sheet
- Mixer with a Dough Hook attachment optional
Ingredients
- 500 g whole grain spelt flour
- 1 packet of dry yeast
- 1 ½ teaspoons of salt
- 350 ml warm water about 40°C
- 1 teaspoon of date syrup or another sweetener to help the yeast optional
- 100 g black or green olives
Instructions
- Put the flour and salt in a bowl and mix. If you don't have a mixer with a dough hook attachment, stir with a wooden spoon.
- Add the date syrup to the water (optional) and mix with a spoon. Add the dry yeast, stir, and let it sit for 10 minutes. If you are not adding the syrup to the water, just mix the yeast and procede to the next step.
- Slowly add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients while stirring.
- Mix the dough until you get a uniform consistency. The dough will be quite soft, but that's what we want because otherwise whole grain flour results in a firm bread.
- Leave the dough to rise for at least an hour, or until it doubles in size.
- Drain the olives and cut them into slices.
- After one hour, add the olives and knead the dough again. If you're kneading by hand and not with a mixer, you'll need to add a bit more flour to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. But not too much, or the bread will be too hard.
- Shape one large or two smaller loaves and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I shaped the loaves as shown in the picture by twisting them (similar to wringing a towel).
- Allow the loaves to rise for at least another 30 minutes. If your kitchen is cold, place the baking sheet in the oven and turn on the light, but don't turn on the oven itself. The light will get the oven slightly warm.
- When the loaves have risen, preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F) and bake for 30 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the baking sheet.
- Wait for it to cool a bit before slicing.
Tips and Info
It stays fresh for about two days. You can make a larger batch and store it in the freezer for about six months.