No Knead Olive Bread
No kneading and a long rise time makes this bread super easy to make, delicious, crispy, chewy, and pretty dang impressive looking when it comes out of the oven.
I wanted to get a crusty, chewy artisan bread and I read you need longer rise times for that to really happen. I found a great recipe from Jim Lahey (Sullivan Street Bakery) posted on Leite's Culinaria website.
This is not sourdough and relies on active dry yeast. For that, I completely recommend Tartine's book and recipes.
This bread is yummy, super easy to make just requiring time for a slow rise (12-18 hours) but so little effort. Really good.
Ingredients (measurements I used)
3 cups bread flour plus a little more for the spreading on your work surface
1/2 cups rough chopped pitted olives (I used Colossal Castelvetrano style olives)
3/4 teaspoon instant or other active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups cool (55 to 65°F | 13 to 18°C) water
Flour or cornmeal for additional dusting
Directions
Stir together the flour, chopped olives, and yeast in a medium bowl.
Add the water and mix with a wooden spoon until you have a wet, sticky dough. Don't go to town on this, it should only take 30 seconds to a minute.
Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough has more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours! I went to 20 hours on mine, and it came out wonderful.
When the first rise is complete, generously dust your work surface with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl as one piece. Using lightly floured hands, lift the edges of the dough toward the center. Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.
Place a clean towel on your work surface and generously dust it with cornmeal, or flour. Gently place the dough on the towel, seam side down. If the dough seems sticky, dust the top lightly with a little more cornmeal, or flour.
Fold the ends of the towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours. The dough is ready when it is almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.
Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475°F and adjust the oven rack to allow room for a Dutch oven. Place a covered 4 1/2- to 5 1/2-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot in the center of the rack to warm it.
Using potholders, carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it. Unfold the towel and quickly but gently invert the dough into the pot, seam side up. (Use caution—the pot will be extremely hot!).
Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid and continue baking until the olive bread is a deep chestnut color but not burnt, 15 to 30 minutes more. Use a heatproof spatula or potholders to gently lift the bread from the pot and place it on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
That's it! Super easy and pretty forgiving - even I could make it.