Olive Herb Bread.

This bread is freaking amazing
and so addictive.

Since first beginning to tweak it a month or so ago,
I've baked it at least twice every week.

It is super easy to make into one or two loaves- great to bring over for dinner or drop off at a friend's. Brighten someone's day... and/or make yourself popular.

Loosely based off of this mediterranean bread.

4 cups flour
1 cup olive juice (drained from the can of olives) + 1/4 cup water, warmed
3 T olive oil
2 T sugar
1 t salt
3 heaping t yeast
1 can black olives
handfuls of fresh basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
sea salt

Herbs I grew!!!

Make dough in bread machine, using all ingredients but the egg and sea salt and leaving olives whole*. If making dough by hand: chop olives in half, mix all ingredients but the egg and sea salt, knead five-10 minutes, rest 45 min, repeat kneading and resting.

After dough is out of bread machine, punch it down, then allow to rise until about double in size, 30-45 min.


Isn't it gorgeous? Don't you just want to hang out in my kitchen baking bread to Mumford & Sons every afternoon? Welcome to my life.

Lightly grease cookie sheet with olive oil.
Heat oven to 425 and place on bottom shelf a pan filled with water**.
Form dough into one or two round loaves and place on cookie sheet.

Whisk the egg with a little bit of water and brush over loaf/loaves.
Sprinkle sea salt liberally over loaf/loaves.

Place dough on a shelf above the water and bake at 425 for 15 minutes.
Lower oven temperature to 375 and bake 25-30 more minutes (if only making one large loaf, 30-35).

Bring the beautiful, golden, fragrant loaf to family, friends, and neighbors and enjoy as they all profess their undying love and devotion to you.

Faith, Sam and I, excited to try it at community dinner a couple weeks ago.

I brought some to my next-door neighbors the day before we signed my lease for next year (they are also my landlords), and I heard later that after taking a bite Mark turned to Kara
and said "Okay... she can stay."


*I like having larger chunks of of olives in the bread. In my bread machine, even if I leave them completely whole they were chopped finely by the time the dough was made. If making the dough by hand, they still get broken up but into bigger pieces.

**Leaving the pan of water in the bottom of the oven is a trick to make steam create the crunchy crust while leaving the inside soft; making it extra hot the first 15 minutes and then lowering the heat also helps with this.