Black Olive Rosemary Bread is the epitome of Mediterranean homemade bread with lots of olives, olive oil, rosemary and a sea salt crust.
Olives and Rosemary
If you could bite into a loaf of bread, with your eyes closed and smell the Mediterranean country side, this is the bread that would do it!
With the scent of rosemary, taste the salty briny fruit of the olive tree, you will want to indulge in this hard crunchy crust of a bread.
So easy to make, you are sure to bake this scrumptious bread every single week of your life!
Black Olives
Olives are just the most amazing, ancient and symbolic fruit in the world.
Add them to bread, the king of symbolism and life giving substance, and you have a single bite of history right there in your mouth!
Homemade Bread
Homemade Bread, alone, is worth every second you put into making it. It fills the kitchen with the smell of love while it bakes, making mealtime a cause to celebrate.
Baking bread at home assures you that your beautiful loaf has none of the additives or preservatives of store bought bread.
Home baked bread will last a maximum of five days after baked, before it begins to dry out or get moldy; but I doubt it will be there that long.
Black Olives and Rosemary ARE A Mediterranean Diet
Mediterranean Diet, may not be something you are familiar with but without calling it a diet, it has been a way of eating in countries who have a secret.
The secret is that they have among the highest records of Centenarians (people living to be 100), in the world!
The Mediterranean food eaten in these regions, bread, olives, cheese, lots of fruit, also has the lowest number of issues with obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and clogged arteries.
Why? Healthy fats! Olives and their oil, provide some of the best source of healthy fats, you can eat on a regular basis.
A Mediterranean diet includes some form of homemade bread daily, along with olives, cheese and fresh herbs. Hmmmm, eat bread everyday, don’t struggle with obesity? Count me in!
Mediterranean Black Olive Rosemary Bread
Mediterranean Black Olive Rosemary Bread, often served with Tzatziki, is a recipe I created for a very special reason.
Having been a single mother of four children for nearly all of the children’s growing up years, I was that mom that wanted all meals to be homemade.
For this reason, I created this recipe to make our mealtime, at the end of longs days, a celebration.
Black olives are a fruit loaded with vitamin E, and other powerful antioxidants. The healthy fats derived from the olive is a key component in healthy practices of the Mediterranean diet.
Healthy Roots Of Black Olive Rosemary Bread
I made homemade bread every few days, as a special gesture to our family’s gathering at meal time.
The desire to get as much nutrients from the food I served my children, began my experimentation with adding lots of healthy ingredients into the homemade bread.
I knew the kids would devour the bread quickly so why not put other healthy ingredients in the bread.
Black Olives were the first ingredient I decided to add to my homemade bread recipe. The kids loved olives and I knew the olives were loaded with healthy contributors to their meal time.
While I had never visited the region of Syria where my mother’s family was from, I knew olive trees were in abundance there.
I wanted to see olive tress for myself, and I wanted my children to develop a rooted connection to the Mediterranean regions that provided much of the foods they grew up eating.
Why Black Olives?
So, one year we all went to Italy. They were each familiar with the symbolism of the olive branch, and so that, in and of itself, was something curious they chatted about with each other.
The trees, as they grew row by row. looked almost silver, instead of green, until they began to burst with the fruit of the olive.
I felt almost transported back in time, when we got to see these trees, and taste the olives and olive oil right there where they grew.
Until then, we only knew black olives the way they were sold in a grocery store.
Why Rosemary?
Rosemary, became the next ingredient I added to the olive bread, simply because of its intoxicating aroma and health benefits.
For some reason, rosemary scent always reminded me of holidays, when we would make special meals, often with lamb, or vegetables lightly cooked in olive oil, rosemary and lemon.
Rosemary, much to my surprise, is said to support cognitive stimulation. I swear it’s that intoxicating aroma!
A huge handful of freshly chopped rosemary went into the olive bread recipe next.
My Mediterranean Black Olive Rosemary Bread
So now my Mediterranean Black Olive Rosemary Bread recipe was loaded with vitamin E, healthy fats, cognitive stimulation and tummy happy dinner time ingredients.
I made several loaves, served it for dinner with a variety of soups, and all the loaves disappeared!
Though I made a variety of different types of homemade bread weekly for my family, Black Olive Rosemary Bread is my absolute favorite.
Black Olive Rosemary Bread Is PERFECT For A Tapas Spread
Having a few friends over for quality time together has always been my preference to going to a restaurant.
The cost is often double, what it costs to prepare food at home, and then there is that feeling of being rushed so the server can turn the table for the next customer.
Sure it is easier to sit, eat and leave, never having to shop, cook, serve and clean up, but the evenings when I prepare to serve at home, have always been more memorable and appreciated.
Homemade Bread Makes A Meal Feel Special
My Black Olive Rosemary Bread has been the bread I make for an evening gathering at my home, more times than not.
Since the bread is nearly a meal in itself, the tapas plates can be easy simple items you may already have in the fridge, or can buy at the market ready to slice and put on a plate.
The bread can be made a day in advance, leaving plenty time for the fast plates you will put out.
Bread For A Tapas Spread
Just to give you an idea of how easy a tapas spread can be, once the olive rosemary bread is already made, here is a quick tapas spread I put together with items to compliment the flavors of the olive rosemary bread:
- Tzatziki – More black olives in a mix of cucumber, yogurt and mint. An easy healthy salad-type dish to serve.
- Caprese Bites on a stick – Another type of light salad of tomatoes, cheese and spinach, but on a stick.
- Sweet Potato Fries, baked in a really hot oven, make for something salty to nibble on and can sit out for several hours.
- Variety of Smoked Fish beautifully displayed on a bed of lettuce with colorful carrot shavings. The fish slices are easy to put on top of the olive rosemary bread and taste delicious together.
- Cheeses, Pates, easy items that need very little time to have them out for a beautiful spread so you can just enjoy your company.
- Pomegranate Martini – with pomegranate vodka, the sweetness of cranberry juice and the zing of lime makes for a beautiful holiday sip.
Ingredients Needed
- Yeast
- Sugar
- Water
- Salt
- Pepper
- Rosemary
- Grated Cheese
- Black Olives
- Olive oil
- Flour
- Egg
- Coarse salt
Equipment Needed
- Cutting board
- Sharp knife
- Mixing bowl
- Basting brush
- Wooden spoon
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Cookie sheet or 2 loaf pans
- Parchment paper
- Kitchen towel – to cover bread while rising
- Oven
More Homemade Breads To Love
Once we get over the apprehension of working with yeast dough, the sky’s the limit as to the many variations of bread we can make.
Simply balancing the wet with the dry ingredients in the mix, making sure the yeast proofs, and we are off running with great bread ideas.
Here are just a few of my favorites for a variety of reasons, both color contribution from veggies and teas, and the grains I am able to bring to the mix.
- Beetroot Spinach Bread – is a delicious, healthy, showstopper of beetroot with garlic dough and spinach with lemon dough, braided together.
- Butterfly Pea Flower Tea Bread – a delicate tea made from butterfly pea flowers, then the tea is the base for a purple and white bread.
- Cranberry Almond Yeast Bread – made from fresh cranberries, crushed almonds, orange zest and cardamom, risen and baked into a beautiful bread!
- Spelt Kefir Yeast Bread – a hearty dense spelt flour bread with gut healthy kefir, baked to perfection in a yeast dough recipe.
Black Olive Rosemary Bread
Equipment
- Large bowl
- Cookie sheet
- Basting brush
Ingredients
- 2 tsp Yeast
- 2 tsp Sugar
- 1 1/2 cups Water room temperature
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Pepper coarse grind
- 2 tbsp Rosemary fresh or dried, chopped
- 1/2 cup Grated cheese optional
- 1 cup Black Olives chopped
- 1/4 cup Olive oil
- 4-5 cups All Purpose Flour extra for dusting
- 1 Egg egg wash
- pinch Coarse sea salt sprinkle on top
Instructions
- Place the yeast, sugar and water in a bowl and let sit for 5 minutes to form a foam.
- Add salt, pepper, rosemary, cheese, olives and olive oil. Mix. Slowly blend in flour, adding a little at a time until it becomes too difficult to stir with a spoon. Time to get a little messy. Sprinkle flour on top of the dough and use your hand to press the flour into the dough. Turn the dough over and sprinkle more flour, press and turn. Continue like this until the dough is no longer sticky.
- Oil a clean bowl, and place the dough in the bowl. Cover and let it rise in a warm (not hot), spot until double in size; an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Sprinkle a little flour on top of the risen dough, punch it down. Sprinkle a little flour onto a work surface, enough to shape the dough into one large log or 2 medium logs. Place the dough onto a baking sheet.Whisk the egg with a drizzle of water, and brush the egg wash across the top and sides of the bread dough. Sprinkle course salt on top and pop into the hot oven.
- Bake for 18 – 20 minutes or until top is golden.
Video
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.