Olive Bread - 1 large loaf
650g/1lb 7oz strong plain flour
7g/1/4 sachet easy blend yeast
1 tsp fine sea salt
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
250-275ml/9-10oz hand-hot water
140g/5oz Black & Green olives, de-stoned and chopped
(weight after de-stoning)
1. Tip the flour into a large bowl and stir in the yeast,
salt and olive oil. Pour in most of the water and work the mixture into a stiff,
sticky dough, the work in enough of the remaining water to make the dough feel
damp.
2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and kneed for 10 minutes,
until smooth and elastic. Add all the olives and kneed them into the dough until
evenly distributed.
3. Put the dough into a lightly oiled clean bowl, cover with a damp clean cloth
and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. This should take aprox.
1 1/2 hours..
4. Turn the dough out onto the work surface, punch it to knock out all the air,
then kneed again for 2 - 3 minutes. Roll the dough into a 60cm/24inch sausage,
fold it loosely in half, then twist it once. Pinch the ends to seal. Put the
loaf in a lightly oiled baking sheet, cover again and leave to rise until doubled
in size, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, pre heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
5. Just before putting in the oven, brush a little water 9to soften the crust).
Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and the base sounds hollow when tapped.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
The olives can be replace with - sundried tomatoes, nuts,
herbs - anything you fancy.