Light and puffy with a dark, golden-brown flaky crust. If you are looking for something different, this Mediterranean flavored brioche-style olive bread will certainly amaze you! Follow my detailed step-by-step instructions and prep photos and succeed on your first time! And if you love your breads, my delicious greek pita bread will amaze you!
To prepare this delicious olive bread, start by making the dough. In a large bowl, add the flour (250g), the sugar, salt and yeast and mix (using the dough hook of an electric mixer).
Pour in the beer and mix, until absorbed. Pour in the olive oil and mix, until combined. (We use olive oil, instead of butter for a more Mediterranean flavour). Add the eggs, one at a time, waiting for each one to be absorbed, before adding another. At the end, add the rest of the flour (120g) and mix for 4-5 minutes (the dough should become sticky, so don’t try to add more flour).
Coat a bowl with oil and place in the dough, sprinkle with some flour, cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise (in a warm place) for at least 1 hour, until it doubles its size. If you don’t have the time to wait or the environment you are is relatively cold, preheat the oven to 30C, turn it off and place the bowl in the oven.
Deflate carefully the dough and stretch it out, using a rolling pin (or just your hands), like a pizza base (rectangular), approx. 0.4 cm thick. Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese and the olives, like topping a pizza. (you can use any kind of ingredients you prefer)
With a sharp knife cut the dough into strips (approx. 5 cm width); layer the strips one on top of the other and cut vertically into 7-8 pieces. Oil the bottom and sides of a rectangular cake tin and lay the pieces one next to the other, vertically, like slices of bread (see the photos). Cover the cake tin with a kitchen towel and let it rise (in a warm place) for about 40 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C and bake for 30 minutes, until the olive bread is browned and crusty. Enjoy while still warm!
I tried this and the resulting dough was really gooey. It would not hold it’s form at all. I let it sit and it didn’t rise at all. I still have a bowl full of goo. I did use an electric mixer with a dough hook. Any thought on why it failed so bad?
I can think of a few reasons:
1. The beer was too cold and the yeast could not ferment
2. The place where the dough was left to rise was too cold – try warming up your oven at 45C and placing the bowl with the dough in there to rise
3. You’ve added the salt directly on the yeast and it killed it 🙂 Should pour the salt on one side of the bowl and the yeast on the other so it is diluted when mixed and its not killed.
4. Add a little more flour as it might be that the flour is too soft or not starchy enough for bread.
There is still hope though! Try the oven treatment in case it works…
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I tried this and the resulting dough was really gooey. It would not hold it’s form at all. I let it sit and it didn’t rise at all. I still have a bowl full of goo. I did use an electric mixer with a dough hook. Any thought on why it failed so bad?
Hi Bob
I can think of a few reasons:
1. The beer was too cold and the yeast could not ferment
2. The place where the dough was left to rise was too cold – try warming up your oven at 45C and placing the bowl with the dough in there to rise
3. You’ve added the salt directly on the yeast and it killed it 🙂 Should pour the salt on one side of the bowl and the yeast on the other so it is diluted when mixed and its not killed.
4. Add a little more flour as it might be that the flour is too soft or not starchy enough for bread.
There is still hope though! Try the oven treatment in case it works…