I am LOVING bread lately. In fact, I make some sort of loaf almost every weekend. This weekend, I made the BEST olive bread recipe. The key? using a bit of brine in replacement for water.
Originally, I was a bit suspect that the salt in the brine would affect the yeast but I had no issue with it rising at all.
For this recipe, I chose to use kalamata olives – since I really enjoy black olives but you can use green, or even a mix of the two for this bread. Both will taste so good.
Using canned or jarred olives works best for this recipe, and unless you have an olive tree, I’d highly recommend grabbing pre-pitted and cut olives from the store – they should be stored in a water brine.
If you’re not sure what brine is – it’s basically a salty water solution that keeps things from going bad in a jar. Since the brine has a lot of salt, that means we can omit the salt in the final bread recipe.
How to make the best olive bread recipe
Making this olive bread recipe couldn’t be easier. It really is super simple. All you have to do is add the ingredients into a bowl and mix it all together! No kneading required!
What you will need for this olive bread recipe
- Flour – all purpose unbleached works best
- Yeast – I used instant yeast but regular yeast works as well
- Sugar – to activate the yeast
- Water
- Jar of pitted kalamata olives
NOTE: If you use regular yeast, that means you will have to add it to the water along with the sugar and wait around 15 minutes for it to activate.
Once you have mixed all the ingredients together, just let it sit covered in a bowl until it has risen to twice or three times its original size.
When it has risen, you can take it out of the bowl and shape it using a little extra flour. Then we will rise it again while the oven heats up to temperature.
Honestly this recipe is SO simple. I hope you enjoy it and if you want to try some of my other bread recipes, check out this focaccia or ciabatta recipe!
The Best Olive Bread Recipe
The best olive bread recipe! Super simple, no kneading required and takes only 45 minutes to bake!
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 100ml brine from jar of kalamata olives
- 1 cup kalamata olives
- 350ml water
Instructions
If you are using regular yeast, 15 minutes prior to starting the recipe, mix the yeast, sugar and 300ml water together and let it sit until it foams.
In a mixing bowl, add the flour, instant yeast and sugar (if using instant yeast). Mix thoroughly.
Pour in the brine and 300ml of water. (or the yeast water if you used traditional yeast)
Mix until the water has been incorporated and theres no dry flour left. If there is still dry flour, add a little bit of the remaining water.
Pour in the olives and mix thoroughly until the olives have been mixed into the dough.
Use your hands to wipe some olive oil over the top of the dough.
Cover and let sit for 1.5 hours or until doubled in size.
Once it has doubled, pour the dough out onto a piece of lightly floured parchment paper.
Sprinkle some more flour onto the top and use your hands to shape the dough into a ball.
Place the parchment and dough into a bowl, cover and let sit for around 45 minutes.
While the dough is rising a second time, bring the oven up to 450°F with a dutch oven or baking stone inside.
Once the oven is up to temperature, take the dough and parchment paper and transfer to the baking stone or dutch oven.
Cover with the lid of the dutch oven (or with a piece of foil) and bake for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, remove the lid and continue to bake for another 15 minutes or until nice golden brown.
Take out of the oven and let sit for an hour before enjoying.
2 comments
In the list of ingredients you have 300ml of water but in the instructions you have 350ml. What is the correct amount?
Hello! So it is 350ml but I mucked it up. You should pour 300ml into the flour and add the extra 50ml if there’s still a portion of the dough that is not wet.