Black Olive Bread with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Almonds

 

BBQ season needs not only an amazing variety of meat, salad, veg and sauces...NO! What would summer be without mediterranean olive bread with or without sun-dried tomatoes and some crunchy almonds on top?!

Here is an easy way to make delicious bread at home that will definitely impress your buddies and their taste-buds at the next get-together.

Preparation time: 60min

Cooking time: 45min

We advise an estimated cool-down time of 2 hours before cutting/serving. 

Ingredients:

• 450g of bread flour
• 1 Sachet of dried yeast
• 2 tsp (caster) sugar
• 1 tsp of salt
• A handful of chopped black olives and sun-dried tomatoes
• small handful of sliced almonds 
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 375ml of tepid water
• additional flour

Preparation:

Dissolve the sachet of yeast in the water. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, salt, olive oil and add the water. Knead the dough in the bowl (if need be add a little more flour to improve consistency). Turn out dough onto a floured board and knead it until it's smooth and elastic and fairly dry. Chop up the black olives and dried tomatoes and while still a littly oily add to the dough and knead well again, for about 5 to 10 minutes. 

Then place the dough ball into a floured bowl, cover with a clean dish towel or some aluminium foil and place in a warm place to rise for about 45 to 60 minutes, until it doubles in size.

Take out of the bowl onto a well floured surface again and knead a last time. Prepare a baking tray by covering it in oil and flour it. Then place the dough in whichever shape onto the baking tray and pre-heat the oven to 250° C.

Wet your hands with a bit of water and wet the dough on the top - to make the almonds stick to the surface. Cut in deep ridges into the loaf and flour generously. (If you decide to make rolls, cut little Xs into them. With Baguette-shaped bread make sure not to cut too deep.)

Bake loaf at 250° C for 15 minutes. Then reduce heat to 190° C / about 160°C with Fan. Bake for 30 more minutes, or until done and golden brown. Check that the almonds don't burn - to avoid you can regularly sprinkle some water on the loaf. 

Then let cool down on a grill for min. 1 hour, better 2 hours. 

You can of course alter the ingredients according to your taste and change the amount or variety of fillings or toppings! Try out walnuts or Pine Nuts as toppings. Or maybe halloumi/feta cheese or carrot in your loaf. 

Tell us what worked best for you or if you have found more tasty fillings in the Comment section.