Sourdough Olive Bread (No-Knead)

This sourdough olive bread is a crusty, rustic loaf studded throughout with salty, briny Castelvetrano olives, but use any olives you like!

Olives aren’t for everyone (and if that’s you we have many other sourdough bread recipes). But if you are an olive lover like we are, you will love this sourdough olive bread!

Like most sourdough bread recipes, you need a couple of days to make this loaf. That being said, almost all of that time is spent hands off while the starter works it’s magic.

The chewy airy inside and crisp crust of this bread are the perfect backdrop for any olives you like or have on hand. We recommend using pitted olives (unless you have an olive pitter) and slicing them in half, rather than into small pieces or rings, to prevent burning. Try serving your sourdough olive loaf on the side of a bowl of soup, alongside pasta, or toasted for breakfast with a slice of sharp cheese.

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Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.

Recommended Tools

We have a post called Our Favourite & Essential Sourdough Tools for you to check out. The post is a compilation of items that are absolutely needed to bake great sourdough bread, as well as items that are handy but not required.

Ingredients

• Olives — We used pitted Castelvetrano olives, but you can use black olives if you prefer (pitted Kalamata olives are terrific in this loaf). For extra intense olive flavour, try adding a few Moroccan olives to the mix, or even try mixing green and black.
• Flour — We use all-purpose flour in this recipe, however, strong bread flour is another great choice.
• Sourdough Starter — You need active bubbly sourdough starter to make green olive sourdough bread. If you don’t have active starter, another option is to make a sourdough levain the night before. For more information, check out this post called How To Make Sourdough Levain.

Keep scrolling to see clear and detailed process shots, as well as tips and notes to help you make Sourdough Olive Bread perfectly the first time!

Method

TOP TIPS
1. Keep the olive chunks large. We like to slice whole pitted olives in half for this olive sourdough loaf. Larger pieces ensure maximum bursts of flavour and don’t burn in the oven the way smaller pieces do.

2. Tuck in the olives. When shaping, try to keep the olives from poking through the surface tension of the dough, tucking them under when needed. This will help prevent burning!

3. Cool it! Let your sourdough olive loaf cool for at least four hours before slicing. A loaf sliced too soon may still be hot and steamy inside which means high probability of gummy bread.

Recipe Notes

• We highly recommend using a scale and it is for this reason we don’t include US customary volume measurements. Volume measurements can be wildly inaccurate and room for error is large. If you don’t own or want to buy a scale we recommend using another recipe.
• Another tool that makes a huge difference, not only to sourdough baking but to all baking, is an oven thermometer. You can purchase them for around $5 CAD at most hardware stores. Thermometers provide across the board consistency for baking and all of us here at Baked use them.
• There is sometimes confusion between the terms “no-knead” and “stretch and folds”. They are not the same thing. For more information about stretch and folds, check out this post called How To Stretch And Fold Sourdough.
• Use pitted olives to save time (unless you own an olive pitter, then go for it).
• Room temperature or slightly warm water encourages activity in the starter. Do not use cold water (unless you don’t mind waiting longer).
• If you don’t have sea salt you can use regular iodized table salt.
• A banneton is nice to have but not crucial to the results of this recipe. If you don’t own one, simply line a medium-large mixing bowl with a clean cotton tea towel dusted generously with flour.
• You can leave your shaped olive sourdough loaf to proof in the refrigerator for up to three days. The longer it sits, the more sour flavour should develop, however, the amount of sour flavour can also depend on your starter’s strength and age.

How To Store & Freeze No-Knead Olive Bread

• To Store — Olive sourdough is best the day it’s baked and sliced. A good method to store your loaf after that is to wrap it in a clean tea towel and store it in a cold oven. You can also store it in a large zipper top freezer bag. We usually keep our bread, in the freezer bag, on the counter for up to two days.
• To Freeze — After two days on the counter, place the whole freezer bag in the freezer (if there’s any left). Frozen slices of no-knead olive bread are great for toasting!

Substitutions

• Strong bread flour, or up to 40% whole wheat or light spelt flour can be substituted for all-purpose.
• Use any olives you like, but make sure they’re pitted. You don’t want any broken teeth!
• Try swapping some of the water for olive juice.
• You can use any salt you want. Just weigh it on the scale for accurate measurement.

Variations

Here are some flavours you can add to sourdough olive bread:

• Cheese — Parmesan, Feta, or Halloumi are delicious.
• Fresh herbs — Rosemary, thyme, or sage are great choices.
• Nuts — Try walnuts or pecans.
• Zest — Orange or lemon.
• Spice — Jalapeño, onion, Za’atar,
• Meat — Bacon, chopped ham,
• Other flavours — Sun-dried tomatoes, onion, figs, garlic, cracked pepper

FAQ

Serve Olive Sourdough Loaf With These Recipes

Easy Shredded Chicken Salad With Grapes & Almonds
Quick Garlic Spinach Pasta With Cedar Nuts
Sticky Teriyaki Tofu
Asparagus Frittata With Peas, Spinach, & Goat Cheese

If you make this recipe, let us know by tagging @baked_theblog + #bakedtheblog on Instagram! We love to feel like we’re in the kitchen with you.

The post Sourdough Olive Bread (No-Knead) appeared first on Baked.