Olive Loaf

Black and green olives from Aragon, in the northeast Spain

Which electric appliance you can't live without? No light, candles sound romantic; no water-heater, it's ok too as we went through for 2 months without it (thanks for the stringent safety regulation that took us such a long time to settle it). But no refrigerator, I can't as I won't be able to make bread... I think I've just heard you saying 'pardon me'.

Yes, I need my fridge to proof my dough.

First I learnt about it from one of the Scandinavian pastry/bread books written by Beatric Ojakangas (a professional baker, American of Finnish descent). She presented a collection of recipes done by refrigerating the dough overnight, and I tried them all, all fantastic, and more importantly, such method perfectly fits in my schedule. Come to think of it, the breads I like to make usually require 3 proofing, so every 2 hours or so I have to get back to the dough; that means a half day being stuck around the house. The experience of bread making should bring along a joyous anticipation but not that 'when-I-can-finally-get-it-over' frustration. So now, what I am doing, before bed I finish kneading the dough, then let it rise in fridge overnight. Next morning I do the shaping and let it finish the last rising. By the time I finish brushing my teeth and taking shower, the dough is ready to go to hot oven. The rest of my day remains undisturbed, except getting more phone calls from friends and family who want to join me this lunch :)

It is the first bread recipe I created. Taking reference from Basic Pizza Dough (see it at the side bar), I made the starter first, and aimed for a very moist dough. I am very happy with the end result, the interior is opalescent, delicate and pretty porous. If ask me what I want to change next time, maybe reduce the yeast a little bit, just to see if the bread still comes out the same.

For the choice of olives, black olive is definitely better than the green one in this loaf. Pitted them if desire, but mine aren't since they don't bother me, what I really care is their wonderful flavor.

Sliced up olive loaf, spread with mild-flavored soft cheese, topped with cabbage sprouts

Recipe of Olive Loaf

yield: 3 loaves with the length of 23 cm

For the starter: 150g plain flour + 2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast + 1 cup lukewarm water + 1 pinch of sugar

For the main dough:

• 50g semolina flour
• 250g bread flour
• 2 pinches of salt
• 150 g black olives of your choice
• extra virgin olive oil, preferable with floral or fruity aroma

How-to:

1. For the starter: Combine water, flour, yeast and sugar together, cover and let it proof for 1 hour at 25C room temperature. The starter should look bubbly, and almost double its original volume
2. To make the dough: Combine the starter, semolina, flour and salt, knead until the dough is elastic and smooth. The dough should feel wet, but not sticky. Grease a large bowl and plastic wrap, place the dough in, cover, let it rise in the fridge overnight.
3. Next morning bring the dough back to room temperature. Knead briefly, and divide it into three portions.
4. Lightly flour the work table, roll each dough to 25 x 15 cm retangle. Generously brush extra virgin olive oil all over but leave one long end (so that it can seal easily), evenly distribute 1/3 portion of olives, roll up the long side, pinch the end, carefully transfer it on a baking tray, brush more olive oil on top. Repeat the same procedure with the other two doughs. Cover with plastic wrap, let them rise at 25C room temperature for about an hour. They should puff up their volume close to double.
5. Set oven to 250C, pre-heat for 30 minutes
6. Bake the loaf at 250C for the first 5 minutes, then lower to 220 for another 20 - 25 minutes. Check the doness.
7. The loaf stores well for two days in room temperature.

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