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Olive Sourdough Bread

A rustic, crackling-crusted sourdough studded with salty Kalamata olives. We make this most weekends with our youngest and it never lasts long. The lamination step sounds fiddly but it's genuinely straightforward once you've done it once.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings: 1 Loaf
Course: bread, Side Dish
Cuisine: British, Mediterranean
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • For the dough
  • 450 g strong white bread flour
  • 325 ml lukewarm water
  • 100 g active sourdough starter fed 8 to 12 hours before use
  • 9 g fine sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • For the filling
  • 150 g pitted Kalamata olives halved
  • Fresh rosemary leaves a few sprigs (optional)

Method
 

  1. Combine the water and starter in a large bowl and stir briefly. Add the flour and mix until no dry patches remain. Cover and rest for 45 minutes (autolyse).
  2. Add the olive oil and salt. Pinch and fold through the dough until fully incorporated. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
  3. Perform four sets of stretch and folds over two hours, one set every 30 minutes. Cover between sets.
  4. After the second set, tip the dough onto a damp work surface and stretch into a thin rectangle. Scatter the halved olives (and rosemary if using) over the surface. Fold the dough like a letter to enclose the olives. Return to the bowl and continue with remaining stretch and fold sets.
  5. Cover and leave to bulk ferment at room temperature until increased by 50 to 75 per cent. This takes 5 to 8 hours depending on your kitchen temperature.
  6. Shape the dough into a tight round or oval. Transfer seam-side up into a well-floured banneton or a bowl lined with a floured tea towel. Cover and refrigerate overnight (8 to 12 hours).
  7. Preheat the oven to 230°C fan with your Dutch oven inside for 45 minutes.
  8. Tip the cold dough onto baking parchment, score the top with a lame or sharp knife, and lower into the hot Dutch oven on the parchment. Bake with the lid on for 20 minutes.
  9. Remove the lid and bake for a further 20 to 25 minutes until the crust is a deep golden brown.
  10. Cool on a wire rack for at least one hour before slicing.

Notes

  • Your starter needs to be genuinely active before you begin. If it's not doubling reliably within 8 hours of feeding, give it another feed and wait until it is.
  • Castelvetrano olives make a milder, buttery loaf if you prefer something less intense than Kalamata.
  • Pat olives dry before adding them. Excess brine in the dough affects the hydration and can make it harder to handle.
  • The loaf keeps well wrapped in a tea towel for 3 to 4 days. Slice and freeze any you won't get through in time.
  • Don't skip the full cool. Cutting into a hot sourdough loaf before it's ready gives you a gummy crumb.