Olive bread, delicious soft baguettes filled with olives, I used homemade brined crushed olives, but you can also use those you find at the supermarket, green pitted olives are fine, but also leccino or taggiasche olives, in oil or brined it makes no difference, the important thing is that they are well drained and dried. For the bread dough I used remilled semolina and all-purpose flour for a short rise, but if you have time for a long rise you can also replace it with type 0 or 1 flour, mixed partly with wholemeal flour, to meet every need. Remember that when using wholemeal flour a rise of at least 24 hours is recommended, and if the percentage of wholemeal flour is high, even a rise of over 48 hours, you’ll see results, both for baguettes, pizza, or loaves of bread. I shaped my bread into small baguettes, but you can shape it however you want, this way it’s practical to manage and cook quickly, and you have small slices perfect for appetizers, festive menus, or our buffets, great on its own, because its taste is exceptional, but you can also spread them with creams, sauces, or fill them with cheeses and cold cuts. If you want, you can enrich the filling with salami, cheese, fennel seeds, or instead of olives you can also use walnuts, as I did for half of the baguettes.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 4 Hours
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 4 pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for Olive Bread
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup remilled semolina
- 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups pitted olives
- 1/3 cup semolina for working
Tools for Preparing Olive Bread
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Kneading board
- 1 Baking tray
- 1 Parchment paper
Steps to Prepare Olive Bread
Let’s prepare the semolina bread dough. In a bowl, dissolve the yeast with room temperature water, or slightly warm. Add all the all-purpose flour and mix with a spoon. Take a short break.
Add the salt to the dough and mix, another short break.
Now add the olive oil and mix again, always taking a short break. The breaks are important, allowing the dough to mature, becoming more elastic, and our leavened products will be softer.
Now add the remilled semolina. First work with a spoon then continue by hand on a surface using a little semolina to close the dough, work for a couple of minutes then put it back in the bowl to rise. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise at about 78-82°F for 3 hours, I do it in the oven with a cup of hot water.
Sprinkle semolina on the surface, pour out the risen dough and divide it into 2 parts. Spread each part to form a rectangle and fill with the drained and dried olives with a paper towel.
Roll up to form a sausage shape, press well, and divide lengthwise to create two baguettes. Repeat with the reserved piece of dough, to make a total of 4 baguettes.
Place the baguettes on the baking tray lined with parchment paper, and let rise for an hour in the turned-off oven at a temperature of 82°F, during colder periods with the light on or by warming the oven slightly first.
When the baguettes are well risen and more than doubled in volume, bake them in a preheated ventilated oven at 482°F for about 10-12 minutes, then lower the temperature to 356°F and bake for another 5-7 minutes, until golden and light.
Remove from the oven, let cool a bit, and then they are ready to enjoy, our olive bread baguettes, incredibly tasty and soft, I made half with walnuts, a real treat on any occasion. Keep them closed in a bag, they stay soft for several days as if freshly made, great even without filling if you need buns to fill.
