Olive Bread From Nice

4 from 1 ratings

Olives are a natural complement to bread, especially when they’re baked inside it. Be sure to buy firm unpitted olives for this — pitted olives tend to be softer, and though buying them that way may save you time, the olives will easily disintegrate and add extra moisture to the dough.

Servings

servings

Ingredients

1 2/3 cup room-temperature tap water
1/2 teaspoon fine granulated active dry or instant yeast
3 3/4 cup bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/4 cup niçoise olives, or other firm-textured olives, pitted after measuring and coarsely chopped

Directions

Pour the water into a 3-quart or slightly larger mixing bowl and whisk in the yeast. Wait 30 seconds, then whisk again.
Combine the flour and salt and use a large rubber spatula to stir the flour mixture into the liquid. Scrape the side of the bowl to make sure that no flour remains stuck there. Once the dough is a coherent mass, beat it for a few seconds. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough ferment at room temperature for at least 8 hours. It will more than double in bulk.
A couple of hours before you are ready to form and bake the bread, use a plastic scraper to transfer the dough from the bowl to a well-floured work surface. Flour your hands and pull the dough into a long rectangle. Scatter the olives over half the length of the dough, then fold the other half of the dough over them. Gently press to adhere the dough back together. Fold the 2 sides in to overlap at the middle, then roll the top toward you all the way to the end, jelly-roll style. Invert, flatten, and repeat. Move the dough to a well-floured place and cover with a towel or sprayed or oiled plastic wrap; let rest for 1 hour.
Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees.
Use a scraper to invert the dough to a floured work surface and pull the sides of the dough in toward the center to give the loaf a round shape, pinching the pulled-in pieces in place at the top. Invert the dough to a floured banneton or a basket lined with a floured cloth and cover it with a flat-weave towel. Proof the loaf until it puffs visibly, about 1 hour — it will not double in bulk.
Invert the paper-lined pan onto the banetton and flip the banetton over onto aheavy cookie sheet or pizza pan lined with sprayed or lightly oiled parchment paper, and remove it. Use an X-Acto knife or a single-edge razor blade to cut a slash across the diameter of the loaf. Spray the loaf with water and place it in the oven. Wait 5 minutes and spray again, then decrease the oven temperature to 425 degrees.
Bake the loaf until it is deep golden and the internal temperature reads 200 degrees on an instant read thermometer, 30-40 minutes.