Olive bread recipe

I won't pretend that this Olive Bread Recipe is Slow-Food made fast. It isn't. Baking your own bread is an indulgence, when you have a long uncomplicated day ahead to luxuriate in, with a good book at hand to fill in the time when the yeast is doing its own thing. Just the aroma makes the effort worth your while. Perhaps it's because as a chiropractor I am kneading the whole day, that I love to bake bread the old-fashioned way.

I once had an elderly Lebanese patient who taught me to bake bread the Mediterranean way. She has passed on at 96, but every time I bake, or get up an aubergine dish, she comes to life again. I cut my chiropractic teeth on her arthritic hip. An unset fracture, aged 12 during the Turkish invasion of Lebanon, gave her a life time of hell, but she coped with grim determination, and chiropractic care. Hip arthritis.

INGREDIENTS

The yeast mix

• Olive oil

• 250ml luke warm water

• 1 teaspoon honey

• 1 and half teaspoons of dry yeast

  Place the warm water in a small bowl, stir in the honey, and then add the yeast, cover and set aside in a warm spot for 15 mins. Stir in 3 TBSP of olive oil, 1 TBSP of flour and 1 tsp of salt.

  Olive bread recipe.

  
  
  

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  The Dough

• 450g finely ground Wholewheat Flour

Sift half the flour into a bowl, making a well in the centre and then adding the yeast mixture. Sift on the rest of the flour. Make it up into a ball of dough, and knead it on a floured wooden board for about ten minutes, rolling it in from the edges.

Tip. Add the last of the flour gradually, making sure that it's not too dry.

Cover with a damp cloth, and place in a warm spot (such as a warmed oven, turned off) to rise until it has doubled in size. About 2 hours.

Meanwhile, resisting the temptation of your book for just a few more minutes ...

1. 2 small onions finely chopped

2. 10 pitted black olives, rinsed in hot water, dried on a paper towel, and finely chopped.

3. 1 TBSP finely chopped rosemary

Lightly fry the onions in olive oil, add the chopped olives and rosemary.

Now for that cup of tea and your book - for about an hour and a half.

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, add the onion mix, and lightly knead again for a minute or so.

Grease a bread tin thoroughly (or it will stick) and add the dough. Again cover with your damp towel, and put it back into the slightly warm oven (switched off!) for an hour.

If the sun has downed, invite the family for a glass of wine, and make a start on your OLIVE garden salad recipe .... Actually, you don't really need to call them! The heavenly aroma will bring them down from upstairs within a few minutes. Hot air rises, hence the monsoons!

After an hour, remove the dough from the oven, (gently, don't bump it) and preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Place the dough back into the hot oven, reducing the temperature to 180. After ten minutes quickly brush the loaf with olive oil and return to the oven, baking until it's golden brown. About half an hour. Now, your patience, and your Olive Bread Recipe have finally come to fruition.

Tip If you are going to heat olive oil there is no point in using extra virgin oil. Neither do you need your special raw honey. (scroll down a bit to INFERTILITY CHIROPRACTIC). These four dips will get your mouth watering.

Olive Paté

• A cup of black olives

• 1 clove of garlic

• A couple TBSPs olive oil

Pit the olives for your olive pate, and throw the ingredients into the blender for a few secs. Make sure there are NO pips! They'll destroy your blender, your teeth too! Add more olives or oil if you want it thicker or thinner. Sprinkle with a little oreganum. OLIVE PATE ...

Feta cheese dip

• A cup of thick yoghurt

• A cup of feta cheese, lightly chopped.

• A couple TBSP of olive oil.

• One TBSP of chopped onion.

• A couple springs of parsley, chopped.

Add more feta and less yoghurt if you want it thicker, so it doens't dribble off your Olive Bread recipe.

Tzatziki

Do your own thing, the quantities are not important. A few feathers of anise would be nice.

Fantastic with Olive Bread Recipe.

Chickpea dip (Choumi or Humus or Hummus)

Goes very deliciously with your Olive Bread Recipe.
• 1 cup chickpeas, washed. Soak overnight. Discard the water. Boil 1/2 hour with ample fresh water until tender.

• Half a clove of garlic. Chop.

• A couple TBSPs of Sesame Tahini (sesame paste)

• A couple TBSPs of Olive oil.

• Lemon juice to taste. A few TBSPs.

• Pinch of salt.

Blend the ingredients together, and sprinkle a little parsley over it, and add a dribble of olive oil if you want it to look pretty.

Tip: Never use whole sprigs of parsley with your cooking. People don't eat it, and it's probably about the healthiest ingredient on the plate! Chop it finely. A delicious gentle flavour.