Olive bread is delicious and flavorful bread that will fill your kitchen with a wonderful aroma. It is made with salty kalamata olives and herbs like rosemary. It is a perfect combination to serve with dips and spreads on your cheese boards.
Olive bread makes a fantastic accompaniment to hearty soups and stews. Also, its distinct flavor adds a unique twist to your favorite sandwiches.
This is an easy olive bread recipe with rosemary made in the Dutch oven. The dough is kneaded in the bread machine.
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Ingredients
To make a crusty artisan olive rosemary bread, you will need bread flour, salt, warm water, instant yeast, dried or fresh rosemary, and sliced kalamata olives.
Instead of bread flour, all purpose flour can be used. Also, instead of kalamata olives, pitted and chopped green olives will work well too.
Instructions
Once you have all the ingredients ready, the first step is to knead the dough. To knead olive bread dough in the bread machine, add all the wet and the dry ingredients into the bread machine pan as per the manufacturer's instructions. Just don't add the chopped olives yet.
Select and start the dough cycle. The bread machine will do all the mixing, kneading, and get the dough through its first rise. Add the olives when the machine beeps for it or before the last kneading phase.
Once you add the olives, the dough will become a little wet. You can add a little flour, about a tablespoon or two, however, you can even skip it and the dough will be a little soft but the bread will have a more open crumb.
Alternately, you can also knead the dough in the stand mixer and proof the dough in the Instant Pot.
Ingredients for olive bread.
Knead the olive bread dough in bread machine.
Once the dough is done through its first rise, transfer the dough only a lighlty floured surface and shape it into a ball by tucking all the edges to the bottom side. Use more flour as needed to dust your hands. Place the dough ball with the seam side facing downwards in a Dutch oven lined with parchment paper.
Cover the Dutch oven with the lid and let the dough rise for the final time for about 45 minutes or until it is double in volume. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Score the bread on the top with a sharp knife or a scoring knife. This helps the bread to bake evenly and not crack open from the sides. Optionally, you can sprinkle some flour on the top of the dough before baking it.
Make a dough ball and place it in the dutch oven for final rise.
Score the bread with a sharp knife.
Place the Dutch oven with the lid covered into the preheated oven with the rack at the middle level. Bake the bread with lid covered for 25 minutes. This will help to trap the moisture and steam and help make a crusty bread. Then bake for another 20-25 minutes without the lid.
The bread will have a hard crust and when you knock it, it will sound hollow. This is a sign that the bread is well baked.
Remove the loaf of bread from the Dutch oven and place it on a cooling rack. Let the bread cool down completely before slicing it. The bread is chewy from inside and has a crusty texture on the top.
Olive bread baked in the Dutch oven.
Let the bread cool down completely on a wire rack.
Substitutions
- Olives - instead of kalamata olives, add the green olives instead.
- Flour - use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour.
- Rosemary - use Italian seasoning or other herbs like garlic powder, oregano, and thyme. You can use fresh rosemary instead of dried one.
Variations
- Herbs - add Italian seasoning or herbs like thyme, oregano, or garlic powder to add more flavor.
- Olives - green olives or black olives can be used. I have used the ones from the jar, if you find fresh ones you can use those and add ¼ teaspoon more salt.
- Bake in bread machine - use the French bread cycle to bake the bread in the bread machine.
Equipment
To make this crusty and delicious homemade olive bread, the dough can be kneaded in a bread machine or in a stand mixer. I have used the 2 lb. Hamilton Beach bread maker to make the dough.
The bread is baked in a 4 qt. Dutch oven inside a convection oven. A larger Dutch oven will work fine too. If you do not have a Dutch oven you can bake it in a baking tray and keep a bowl or another tray filled with water in the oven and bake for about 30-35 minutes.
Storage
Olive bread can be stored at room temperature for 2-3 days in an airtight container or a bread box. If you want to store it longer, you can slice it and freeze it. When you want to eat the olive bread, simply remove a few slices from the freezer and toast it in the toaster.
Top tip
After mixing in the sliced olives, the dough will become a little wet. You can add 1-2 tablespoon flour for a non sticky dough. If you do not add any flour, it is fine as well, the bread will have more open crumb.
You can also knead the dough in the stand mixer using a dough hook.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with olive bread:
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📖 Recipe
Olive Bread Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Wet ingredients
- 1 cup Water (warm)
Dry ingredients
- 3 ½ cup Bread flour (420 grams, or all-purpose flour)
- 1 teaspoon Rosemary (dried)
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- 2 ¼ teaspoon Instant Yeast (7 grams, or bread machine yeast)
Add-ins
- 1 cup Olives (kalamata, sliced)
Instructions
Making olive bread dough in the bread machine
- Place all the wet and dry ingredients (except olives) in the bread machine pan in the order recommended by the bread machine manufacturer.1 cup Water, 3 ½ cup Bread flour, 1 teaspoon Rosemary, ¾ teaspoon Salt, 2 ¼ teaspoon Instant Yeast
- Select and start the dough cycle.
- Add the olives when the machine beeps for add-ins. (Or add them to the nut dispenser before the cycle starts)1 cup Olives
- Optionally, add 1-2 tablespoon more bread flour as the olives will make the dough more wet. But it is okay to skip it.
- Remove the dough after the dough cycle is complete.
Shaping the dough
- On a lightly floured surface knead the dough into a ball.
Final rise
- Line a Dutch oven with parchment paper and place the dough ball on it.
- Cover the Dutch oven with the lid and allow the dough to rise for about 45 minutes until it doubles in volume.
Baking the olive bread
- Preheat the oven to 450 °F
- Score the dough with a sharp knife and then cover the lid.
- Place the Dutch oven with the dough in the oven and bake covered for 25 minutes at 400 °F.
- Bake the bread uncovered for 25 minutes at 400 °F.
- Take the bread out and place it on a cooling rack.
- Once the bread is completely cooled down, slice it with a serrated knife or an electric knife.
Notes
- The olive bread can also be directly baked in the bread machine. Use the French bread cycle for crusty bread.
- It is best to weigh the flour using a food scale for the best and most consistent results.
- The dough can also be kneaded in a stand mixer and then proved in the instant pot or oven for about 1 hour before shaping.
- Check out this post for detailed instructions on how to knead dough in stand mixer and proof it in the instant pot.
- Follow the remaining steps starting from "shaping the dough"
- Recipe makes 1.5 lb. bread. To make 1 lb. bread change servings to 8 and for 2 lb. bread, change servings to 16.
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