Subscribe To
This Site

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.

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 ...

2 small onions finely chopped
10 pitted black olives, rinsed in hot water, dried on a paper towel, and finely chopped.
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 Greek salad. 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). These four dips will get your mouth watering.

Olive Paté

For you olive bread recipe you have to be precise obviously with the recipe, but with this paté and the feta dip, just chuck it in! Greeks and Italians by the way will turn up there noses at pitted olives.

A cup of black olives
1 clove of garlic
A couple TBSPs olive oil

Pit the olives, and throw the ingredients into the blender for a few secs. Add more olives or oil if you want it thicker or thinner. Sprinkle with a little oreganum.

Feta cheese dip

Blend the following ingredients together

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

Follow the Feta dip recipe, and add a few slices of cucumber. A purist might squeeze the cucumber juice out, but that's where the nutrients are. Greeks would add more garlic, and perhaps not include the feta.

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)

This is not difficult, but rather more preparation time is needed. The first three dips you can throw together in five mintutes, but the chick peas need to be soaked over night, and then cooked for about an hour and a half. They freeze well by the way, do double and keep half.

1 cup chickpeas, washed. Soak overnight. Discard the water. Boil 1 1/2 hours with ample fresh water.
Couple cloves of garlic. Chop.
A couple TBSPs of 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 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.