Rosemary Olive Bread

Olives disappear out of this house like chocolate does.  My children, although picky at times, love kalamata olives.  It must be the salt factor.  Saving a few of those olives for this bread proved difficult.  It has taken a long time to make this bread for one reason or another.  Fresh rosemary from my herb garden just makes it all so worth it. When you slice it for that first piece, the smell of fresh bread mingled with the rosemary fills your senses. Dip it in olive oil with a little garlic and you may swoon as I did. Bread is an amazing thing.

Rosemary Olive Bread
Thank goodness this recipe makes two nice size loaves.

1 3/4 cups (14 oz.) water, room temperature
2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 tablespoon honey
3 1/2 cups (19 1/4 oz.) bread flour, plus extra as needed for dusting
1/2 cup (2 3/4 oz) whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons table salt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 1/2 cups (6 oz.) pitted olives, rinsed, chopped rough, and patted dry

Combine water, yeast, and honey in bowl of standing mixer. Add flours and mix on low speed with dough hook until a smooth dough is formed, about 3 minutes. Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Remove plastic wrap; make well in center of dough and add salt and rosemary. Knead dough on low speed (speed 2 on KitchenAid) for 5 minutes. Keep an eye on the dough as it may creep up the dough hook.  Just move back into the bowl if it does. Increase speed to medium and continue to knead until dough is smooth and slightly tacky, about 1 minute. If dough is very sticky, add 1 to 2 tablespoons flour and continue mixing for 1 minute. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and pat into 14×7-inch rectangle. Press olives evenly into dough. Starting at long side, roll rectangle into tight log. WIth seam side facing up, roll log into coil. Transfer dough, spiral side up, to oiled container or bowl, at least 2 quarts in volume, and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in warm, draft-free location until it increases in size by 50 percent, about 1 hour.

Fold partially risen dough over itself. Turn bowl; fold again. Turn bowl again; fold once more. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes. 

Repeat folding, replace plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes.

Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface, being careful not to deflate. Divide dough in half, loosely shape each piece into ball, and let rest 15 minutes. Flip each ball over and, starting from top, roll into tight oval shape. Using palms, roll each oval (seam side down) from center outward until 12-inch loaf is formed. Poke any olives that fall off into bottom seam, then pinch seam closed. Transfer each loaf, seam side down, to 12×6 inch piece of parchment and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours (dough is ready when it springs back slowly when pressed lightly with finger). 

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, place baking stone on rack, and heat oven to 450 degrees at least 30 minutes before baking.

Slide parchment sheets with loaves onto peel or back of inverted baking sheet. Starting and stopping about 1 inch from each side, use razor blade or sharp knife to cut 3 1/2-inch-deep slashes on diagonal along top of each fully risen loaf; spray loaves lightly with water. Carefully slide parchment with loaves into oven using jerking motion. Bake 15 minutes, spraying loaves with water twice more in first 5 minutes, and then reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees. Continue to bake until bread is deep golden brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center of loaf registers 210 degrees, 25-30 minutes. Transfer to wire rack, discard parchment, and cool loaves to room temperature, at least an hour.  If you can possibly wait that long.