My Sourdough Olive … a first!

Well, that caption should truthfully say, “my second,” because it took a previous try before I got the recipe right. My first attempt utilized 50-50 white to whole wheat and was just too dense. My chickens loved it though!

This batch utilized a 75-25 ratio of white to whole wheat with a very wet dough that was gently “turned,” not kneaded, multiple times over the course of its bulk fermentation. And to achieve the wonderful crust (which often eludes me) I started with a 500F oven, added the loaves and immediately turned the temp down to 450F and added a half cup of water to the bottom of the oven. I did this periodically throughout its bake. (A word of caution about that … my oven has a steam cleaning option so this can be done. But some oven electronics might suffer with this step. Even a great loaf is not worth ruining your oven.)

Finally!

And the FLAVOR! My first loaf used a different brand of Kalamata olives that were chopped. This time I used a really good salt-brined sliced brand that added tremendous rich flavor. So in addition to the usual health benefits of sourdough, the olives add even more! This is as good as any professional loaf I have ever tasted (so good I had two thick slices slathered in butter), and it is sourdough, so I do feel like I’ve just won the Pulitzer or something … having finally achieved an excellent crusty, open crumb, chewy tasty Sourdough Olive loaf!

Thank you Audrey II!