Olive Spelt Bread

Here is another recipe from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  This Olive Spelt bread goes on my Top Five favorite recipes from this book to date since I LOVE olives!

Instead of using all green olives in this recipe, I added an equal amount of green and Kalamata olives to the dough. There is also yogurt in this recipe which gives the bread a nice moistness.

The loaf rose beautifully in the oven and was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

I cut some very thin slices off the loaf which I toasted in the oven and served with cheese in the evening. Sorry, too dark for photos but trust me, it was delicious!

This recipe can be found in Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg which contains a plethora of wonderful, no-knead, healthy bread recipes just like this.

Olive Spelt Bread

Healthy Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoe Francois

4 cups spelt flour
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast or 2 packets
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
2 cups warm water
2 cups plain whole milk yogurt
1 cup pitted green olives, chopped (I used half green and half kalamata olives)

Whisk together the flours, yeast, salt and vital wheat gluten in a five quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.

Add the water, yogurt and olives and mix them with the dry ingredients without kneading, using a spoon, or a heavy-duty stand mixer with the paddle attachment. You may need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate.

Allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately two hours in a covered container (not airtight).

The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate it in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 7 days. The flavor will be best if you wait for at least 24 hours of refrigeration.

When ready to bake, dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut of a 1 pound (grapefruit size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape in into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on a ll four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

Allow the loaf to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, on a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal (I like to place parchment paper over the flat side of a cookie sheet so I can slip it easily onto the pizza stone) for 90 minutes (40 minutes if you are using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).

Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450F, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler tray on the rack underneath that.

Just before baking, dust the top of the loaf with flour. Slash the loaf a 1/4 inch deep parallel cuts. using a serrated bread knife.

Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door. Bake for 35 minutes, until richly browned and firm. If you used parchment paper, carefully turn the loaf over after 20 minutes to brown the bottom of the loaf.

Allow to cool on a rack before slicing or eating.

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