Artisanal Black Olive Bread

Hey Foodies! Well the store was completely out of bread because people are freaking out over the hurricane. Well, lucky me, that means I get to make my own bread. Tons of yeast and flour at ye olde Publix and I had a can of olives at the house. So, let's rock this shit before the power goes out. I present to you the incredible Artisanal Black Olive Bread.

Good thing I got all day, because this literally takes all day. So, get up early and get started. First, let's make the sponge starter. You will need:

1 cup of bread flour
1 cup of water (between 100 and 110 degrees)
1/4 oz of rapid rising yeast.

Mix that up real good and let it sit covered for 2 hours.


Now let's make our dough. add the rest of the ingredients:


2 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt
2 tablespoons of honey
4 cups of bread flour
1 cup of sliced black olives
2 cups of warm water (between 100 and 110 degrees) Not too hot!  You don't want to kill your yeast. It is a living thing. You want that dough to rise, yo!

Mix it up! For about 5 minutes, and let it sit covered for 3 hours.

Now, it's time to turn it out. Pour the dough on a lightly floured surface and turn out into a round shape. I used my pizza tray for this experiment. Press gently with your palms of your hand to release the gas in the yeast. Give it some love.  =) And, let it sit for another hour and a half. I told ya it was going to take all day.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle your bread with olive oil to make it crispy and dust with flour to make it pretty. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Check often not to over bake. Let Cool 20 minutes before serving. It's hot. You don't want to burn your mouth. It's done! Lets eat.

Tony's Rating: 4.0
What can I say, it's the best bread I've made yet. Perfect with soup or salads, but good on its own. We just tore it apart with our bare hands and started chowing. So good! Comfort food of the highest order and it only cost about 4 dollars to make. We had to buy the bread flour.

Sandys Rating: 5.0 stars
This is the best bread he's made to date.  It was both pretty to look at and yummy to eat!  It really hit the spot on a cooped-up, rainy day!

Time to hunker down. Till next time.. All Men Must Dine!