This is pretty good bread. The crust is chewy and the crumb is rustic and moist. I adapted the recipe from Marcella Hazan’s book Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking that my daughter Jen got me for Christmas a few years back. If you love olives, you’ll love this bread. It’s easy to make and relatively fool-proof.
Since my two sons-in-law (although perfect in every other way) hate olives, I adapted a version with sun-dried tomatoes in place of olives. Although I don’t think it’s as good as the olive bread, the bread crumb, crust and taste is the same and the sun-dried tomatoes add a slightly sweet tang.
Another thing to recommend this bread is that it freezes well. Cut the remainder of a loaf into chunks to serve two, wrap it in aluminum foil, place in a zip lock storage bag and pop it into the freezer. When ready to use it, take from the freezer bag and put the foil-wrapped piece into an oven at 225 for about 20 minutes. Unwrap and slice. It’s as good as the day you baked it.
Making the Biga
The biga, or starter, is what makes this bread so good. It adds a depth of flavor that is mildly sour-dough tasting. This takes a bit of planning since biga takes 14-18 hours to make. I make it on a Friday evening if I plan to make the bread on Saturday for dinner.
Also, this recipe for biga makes enough for two loaves of bread. If you just want to make one loaf, simply freeze half of the biga that you don’t use in an airtight container. To use the frozen biga, just take it out of the freezer and let it thaw for a few hours on the counter. It’s ready to use when it starts to rise again.
Biga Recipe
1/2 t. activated dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 1/4 cup of unbleached all purpose flour
Dissolve the yeast in the water in a small bowl. Add the flour and mix with a spatula until it forms a ball and comes way from the sides of the bowl. Coat another bowl with a thin film of olive oil, place the biga in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a corner out of hot or cold drafts for 14 to 18 hours. When it’s done, it will have doubled in size and be very bubbly.
Olive Bread Recipe
5 oz. Kalamata olives, pitted and roughly chopped*
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 t. activated dry yeast
3 3/4 cups all purpose unbleached flour
2 t. kosher salt
2 T olive oil
*For sun-dried tomato bread, substitute 5 oz. of sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained and chopped, for olives.
Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of lukewarm water. Add 1 1/4 cups of flour and 1/2 the biga. Stir together in a large bowl with a spatula until the ball comes away from the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining 2 1/2 cups of flour, the salt and slowly mix in the remaining cup of water. When the ball comes away from the sides of the bowl, add the olives or sun-dried tomatoes and mix in thoroughly with the dough. While mixing, lift the dough ball with the spatula and slap it back into the bowl.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and lift the edge of the ball with a spatula, folding it onto itself.
Turn the ball 90 degrees and repeat until you have gone around the ball three times. The dough should start to come together into a tight ball (see below).
Place the ball into a large bowl with the olive oil and coat the ball on all sides. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a corner to rise for two hours, or until doubled in size.
After the dough has risen for two hours, turn it out onto a lightly floured board. Fold the top 1/3 of the dough onto itself and push away with the palms of your hands. Rotate 90 degrees and repeat. Do this for about five minutes until you feel the dough begin to spring into a ball and resist further kneading.
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| An olive loaf and a sun-dried tomato loaf finished kneading. |
When finished kneading, leave the dough on the counter and cover with the bowl and allow to rise for another hour.
I bake the bread in a dutch oven with a lid on. The dutch oven bakes the bread faster and keeps it in shape. Preheat your oven, with the dutch oven in the oven, to 425 degrees.
When the bread has risen its final time, take the dutch oven out of the oven (carefully!) and take the lid off. Scrape the dough ball from the counter and place in the dutch oven. I use a wide metal spatula to help with this. Replace the lid and place the dutch oven back into the 425 degree oven.
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| Sun-dried tomato loaf ready for the oven. |
Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on. After 30 minutes, take the lid off the dutch oven and bake for another ten to fifteen minutes until the crust is golden brown.
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| Sun-dried tomato loaf just out of the oven. |
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| Olive loaf ready to be turned out to cool. |
Turn the loaf out of the dutch oven onto a rack to cool. When completely cool, slice and enjoy!
