Rustic Bread with Kalamata Olives and Tomatoes
A craggy, chewy loaf shot through with salty black olives and sweet sun-dried tomato — the kind of bread that needs nothing but a plate of good oil beside it.
Olive bread is one of the happiest uses of the olive: the salty, savoury fruit folded right into the dough, so every slice is seasoned.
What you need
A basic bread dough (500 g strong flour, 7 g yeast, 10 g salt, ~330 ml water, a glug of olive oil), plus a generous handful of pitted Kalamata olives and a few chopped sun-dried tomatoes. A little rosemary or oregano doesn’t hurt.
Method
Make and knead the dough; on the last fold, work in the olives and tomatoes (pat them dry first). Prove until doubled, shape into a rustic round, prove again, then bake hot (220 °C / 425 °F) for ~30–35 minutes until it sounds hollow.
Two small things make or break olive bread. Pat the olives dry before folding them in — wet, briny olives slacken the dough and bleed grey streaks through the crumb. And add them at the end of kneading, not the start, or they tear apart and turn the loaf purple. Folded in gently and late, they stay whole and juicy, little pockets of salt in the bread. Serve with a dish of good oil for dipping.