Olive Bread: It's what you said you knead

Over the last few days, I have had a half dozen or so people ask me for some bread recipes. I know that I love to knead and wait and knead again, but I thought I was a little unusual.

Apparently not.

People are really craving the zen of making their own bread from scratch...they really knead to create something from scratch.

Talking to two friends the other night, we decided that bread and olives are a favorite (at least for us) and combining the two would be a great choice to start what just might be a weekly bread recipe. 

This bread is a bit salty, but it tastes great with unsalted butter. It's really crispy on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth soft on the inside.

When I was looking for some alternate recipes for this bread online, I discovered that some people suggested baking it in a "cloche" to make the crust crispier. I wasn't really familiar with a cloche so I checked into it and found that it is a clay dome-shaped baking dish for bread.

I don't think such a dish is necessary for this particular bread, but I'd love to try to get one to try with other recipes. (Anyone want to donate to a Get-A-Cloche-For-Vicki fund? =D)

Olive-Rosemary Bread

3 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of salt

1 tablespoon of active dry yeast
1 egg

2/3 cup of warm water4 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary
1 cup of pitted olives cut into pieces

• Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
• Combine the beaten egg, the olive oil, the sugar, the rosemary and the olives and add the yeast and water mixture.
• Add the flour and knead for 5 minutes.
• Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
• Add the salt and knead for another 5 minutes.
• Place the dough into a bowl greased with olive oil and cover. Let the dough rise for an hour in a warm spot then knead it a bit.
• Roll the dough into a ball and wrap it loosely in a towel and let it risein a warm place for another half an hour
• Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees, starting when you put the dough down for the final rising.
• Slash the top of the loaf and bake it for 45 minutes or so on a pizza stone or in a cloche.
• Remove the bread from the oven and set it aside to cool for a couple of hours or so before you eat it.

Vegetarian.