Olive Bread is Vegan and Irresistibly Delicious

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HOW TO MAKE IRRESISTIBLY DELICIOUS OLIVE BREAD

The best way to make your olive bread irresistibly delicious is to add lots and lots of olives! So, read along and try the recipe below. This bread is soft and packed chock full of yummy olives. The bread makes a wonderful addition to a chicken dinner, Italian dinner, Greek salad, or any vegan meal. This olive bread is vegan friendly. New to bread baking? Check out my post on the 12 Steps to Perfect Bread and Recommended Products page.

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olive bread before slicing
Fresh Olive Bread Before Slicing

WHAT KIND OF OLIVES SHOULD YOU USE?

Who knew there were so many decisions to make about olives?! However, olives are the star of the show so, let’s discuss which ones to use in this recipe. See below for recommendations.

Packed in Brine or Olive Oil?

In the recipe below, I recommend you use brined olives. The sea salt added to the bread recipe is reduced to account for the added salt in the olives. If you are using olives packed in olive oil rather than brine, you can increase the sea salt by a 2-3 grams.

Mix of Green and Black Greek Olives

Green or Black?

I personally like a mixture of green and black olives in this recipe. The colorful mix and blended flavor in the final bread is delightful. However, you can use whatever olives you happen to have on hand.

Pitted or Not?

Pitted (seedless) olives are the easiest to use in a recipe like this. Pitting olives by hand is tedious and takes a long time. Especially for this recipe, as it calls for 360g of olives – that’s a lot of pits!

Coarsely chop the large whole olives for Olive Bread.
I coarsely chopped the olives for this Olive Bread

Chopped or not?

For this recipe, use whole or chopped olives. The olives I used were quite large, so it made sense to coarsely chop the olives before adding them to the dough mix. However, if you are using small olives, you may just want to add them whole. Or, if your olives are already chopped, that’s fine, too! Just add them as the recipe says without further chopping them.

Mix of Olives Seasoned with Oregano and Bay Leaves

Italian, Greek, Spanish…

So the list is long in the kinds of olives you can find on the market (the same for olive oil, too). I have no prejudice here on what kind of olives to choose. I happened to find brined Greek olives seasoned with herbs (oregano and bay leaves). So, those are the ones I used in this recipe. Bottom line, use nice plump olives of any variety for this recipe.

Seasoned or Not?

Olives often come seasoned with herbs, spices, garlic, etc. If you like the combination in the jarred olive, likely you will like the flavor in the bread. And, let’s face it, who doesn’t like seasoned olives? You can’t ever eat just one. So, choose any type of seasoned olive you like for this recipe.

SHARING IS CARING

I hope you find a few hours to make this delicious bread. If you do, please post a picture of your efforts and tag @christinasbreadbakes on IG, FB or Twitter. I love to see your bakes! Consider also, this recipe makes two loaves of bread, so keep one and share one with a friend, neighbor, coworker, or friend. Bake One Share One; Great Bread for All! Happy baking, Bread Bakers.

Signature Christina
Olive Bread Sliced

Olive Bread

Christina
This recipe makes two loaves of bread packed full of olives. They are perfect for dinner and delicious for sandwiches the following day.
5 from 12 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 30 minutes
Proofing 3 hours
Total Time 4 hours
Course Afternon tea, bread starter, breakfast for dinner, lunch, Tea Time
Cuisine Italian
Servings 2 Loaves

Ingredients
  

  • 1 T Instant Yeast
  • 185 grams Warm Water 100F°/38C°
  • 55 grams Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 360 grams Pitted Green and Black Olives I used black and green greek olives in brine seasoned with oregano and bay leaf.
  • 25 grams Whole Wheat Flour
  • 460 grams All Purpose Flour
  • 7 grams Sea Salt if using unsalted olives, increase salt to 9g

Instructions
 

SCALING

  • Scale all ingredients using a digital scale.
    Scaling 360 grams olives for Olive Bread
  • Check the temperature of the water (100F°/38C°)

MIXING

  • In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the yeast and the warm water, set aside until foamy.
    Foamy yeast
  • Add olive oil to the water & yeast mix.
    Add oil to the yeast and water.
  • Add the whole wheat, all purpose flours and salt to the bowl of the mixer.
    Add flours and salt to the olive oil mix.
  • With the dough hook, mix on low for 1-2 minutes until a rough dough is mixed.
    Mix on low for 1-2 minutes.
  • Add the chopped olives and mix on level two for 5 minutes.
    Add the chopped olives
  • Dough is done mixing when olives are combined and dough is sticking to the dough hook but pulled away from the sides of the bowl. If some olives do not mix all the way in, no worries, you will knead them in by hand.
    Dough is done mixing when it pulls from the sides of the bowl.
  • Dump dough onto a floured work surface. Knead dough about 30 seconds until a cohesive dough ball is achieved, working in any loose olives. The ball will not be as smooth as plain bread, this is okay as the olives create a rough surface.
    Knead into a ball of cohesive dough.

BULK FERMENTATION

  • Set dough ball into a container or bowl that is sprayed with oil to prevent sticking. Cover and set aside to rise until doubled.
    Bread that has doubled in a sprayed and covered container.

FOLDING/PUNCHING

  • Dump dough onto a floured work surface. Express some air out of the dough by gently pushing on it with floured fingers to flatten into a square.
    Flatten dough into a square.
  • Roll the dough up loosely and turn it over so the seam is below.

BENCH REST

  • Cover the dough with a clean kitchen cloth and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.
    Cover Dough with a Clean Cotton Cloth to Rest

DIVIDING

  • Cut the dough in half, using a digital scale weigh each half to ensure they are even weights.
    Divide the dough in half for two loaves.

MAKE UP AND PANNING

  • Flatten one half of the dough into a 5"x7" (12cm x 17cm) rectangle. Then roll the dough away from you into a log. Pinch the seam closed.
    Roll flattened bread into a log
  • Turn log over so seam side is on the bottom. Tuck the ends of the dough under the log. Roll the log gently back and forth so that the ends are slightly narrower than the middle.
    Tuck the ends under the log.
  • Place the log onto a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper (I use perforated pans which keep the bread from sticking). Repeat with the second half of dough.
  • Place the second log on the pan so there is about 4 inches space in between the two logs.
    Place the shaped dough about 4-5" apart on a sheet pan

PROOF

  • Cover the shaped dough with a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with oil or a damp kitchen towel. Set aside to proof until doubled in size.

BAKING

  • While dough is proofing, place a round cake pan full of cold water on the bottom rack of the oven. Place second rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  • Once the loaves have doubled in size, remove the plastic wrap. Spray or lightly coat the bread with olive oil. Cut three diagonal slashes across the top of the proofed dough.
    Slash the dough three times on the top before baking
  • Carefully open the oven (the steam may be hot from the pan full of water). Place the baking pan on the middle rack in the oven.
  • Bake for 15 minutes, turn, then bake 15 minutes more until the outside of the loaves are golden brown.
    Bake to a golden brown

COOLING

  • Cool the bread for 20 minutes before slicing.
    olive bread before slicing

STORING

  • After the bread has completely cooled, it can be stored in a plastic bag on the counter for two days. Bread can be sliced and frozen for later use.
    Olive Bread Sliced
Keyword Bread with olives, Olive Bread, Olive Oil bread, Olives

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24 thoughts on “Olive Bread is Vegan and Irresistibly Delicious”

  1. Enya

    5 stars
    Very delicious! Thank you for this nice recipe for everyone the best taste in our family!
    Your website have great photos and a nice description for the recipe. Thank you for all and go on!

    Reply
  2. Jean

    5 stars
    I like that this olive bread is vegan and you gave so many tips on how to select the olives. This is perfect for our brunch and olives really stand out.

    Reply
  11. Rosanna Stevens

    5 stars
    Delicious! I loved the idea of adding both green and black olives – as I find black olives can sometimes be too strong so using both was perfect

    Reply

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