Sourdough Olive Bread Recipes

Steps:

• Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
• Thoroughly mix the flours, water, starter, and salt in a bowl that has enough room for the dough to double in size.
• Add the olives and rosemary and continue mixing until they're evenly distributed. Note the level of the dough and the time. Cover the dough and let it rest on your counter for 30 minutes.
• With damp fingertips, stretch and fold the dough, lifting the edges of one side of the dough and folding it over to the other side. Go around the bowl 2 to 3 times, stretching and folding, and stop when the dough feels tighter. Cover and let the dough rest again for 30 minutes.
• Perform three more rounds of stretching and folding as in step 2, separated by 30-minute rests.
• When the dough has almost doubled in size and the surface is puffy and bubbly, end the bulk fermentation. Depending mostly on temperature, this will likely be 6 to 10 hours from mixing.
• Pre-Shaping, Bench Rest, and Shaping
• Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a well-floured countertop and pre-shape it into a ball.
• Cover the dough with your inverted mixing bowl and let it bench rest for about 20 minutes.
• Flour the top of the dough and use your bench knife to flip it onto the floured side. Shape the dough into the appropriate shape for your baking vessel.
• Final Proof
• Let your shaped dough rest on its seam while you flour your proofing basket, then place the dough in the basket seam-side up.
• Cover the basket and let the dough rise for another 1 to 3 hours for the final proof. The dough will expand in the basket but not double in size. If you want to bake much later, you can do the final proof in the refrigerator for 10 to 12 hours and bake the dough directly from the cold.
• Baking and Storage
• Before the end of the final proof, preheat your oven and baking vessel for 30 minutes at 500°F (or 450°F if that is the heat limit of your baking vessel).
• Remove your dough from the refrigerator, flip it out of the basket onto a piece of parchment paper, and score the top of your dough.
• Transfer the parchment and dough to the base of your baking vessel, cover, and return the vessel to the oven.
• Bake for 20 minutes and then drop the oven temperature to 450°F. After another 10 minutes, take off the lid, and after another 5 to 10 minutes, remove the bread from the oven. The internal temperature should be 205°F or higher.
• Let the bread cool on a rack for about 2 hours before slicing.
• Store the bread cut-side down on your cutting board with a cloth over it. Slice and freeze after 3 to 4 days.

Steps:

• Combine water and starter in a mixing bowl and mix together. Add yeast and flour to water mixture until it comes together. Cover dough with Saran wrap and let it sit for 20 minutes.
• Remove wrap and add the salt. Mix well on low speed for two minutes.
• Turn to medium speed and knead for 6-8 minutes.
• Add the remaining ingredients to mix. Cover dough and let rise until dough has doubled.
• Punch down dough and form into a round. Place on cornmeal dusted parchment paper on a jelly roll pan. Let rise until doubled. (Mine was 2 hours.).
• Preheat oven to 450 deg.
• Make a slash in the top of the bread.
• Place into the oven and bake for 20 minute Spray oven with water 3 times during the first 9 minutes.
• Lower the temperature to 400 deg. and bake for another 10 minute or until it registers to 190 deg. (high altitude) May take longer at lower altitudes.