Sourdough Olive Bread

A very flavorful sourdough olive bread with Kalamata olives.

This recipe is inspired by a recipe in Bo Friberg – The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry, but I modified it to use a sourdough starter instead of yeast.

Ingredients

Starter

• 3½ oz / 100 g all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup and 3 tbsp / 100 ml water
• 2 tbsp sourdough starter culture

Olive Bread

• ⅔ lb / 300 g pitted Kalamata olives, canned
• 1¼ lb / 560 g all-purpose flour
• ¼ lb / 110 g whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup / 60 ml olive oil
• 2 tsp / 10 g salt
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 cup / 250 ml water
• additional all-purpose flour and olive oil
• cornmeal

Preparation

1. Mix together the ingredients for the starter. Let stand overnight until the starter is very bubbly.
2. Microwave the honey for about 30 seconds so that it is liquid. This also destroys antibacterial enzymes that may interfere with the sourdough development.
3. Combine starter, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, salt, olive oil, water and honey in a stand mixer bowl. Knead with dough hook until dough becomes elastic and cleans the bowl (7-10 minutes).
4. Form a ball, coat with olive oil and let rise until volume has doubled.
5. Coarsely slice or chop the Kalamata olives. Incorporate olives into the dough. Form a ball, coat with olive oil and let rise until volume has doubled.
6. Shape dough into a loaf. Work carefully not to deflate the dough too much. Place loaf on a cutting board sprinkled with cornmeal. Let proof for about 30 minutes. Occasionally spray with water to prevent surface from drying out.
7. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°F / 190°C. I bake the bread directly on a large baking stone, but a baking sheet will do if necessary.
8. Cut decorative slashes in the top of the loaf. Use a very sharp knife and be careful not to deflate the dough.
9. Transfer the loaf onto the baking sheet or stone in the oven. Spray with water. Bake for 10 minutes at 375°F / 190°C, then reduce temperature to 350°F / 175°C.
10. Bake until core temperature registers 210°F / 99°C, about 60-90 minutes. Check with an instant-read thermometer.
11. Remove from oven and let cool before slicing.