I arrived yesterday at Blog Brulee and I am beyond happy and excited to be around these lovely blogging women. The sessions only just began last night and I have already learned a ton about ad networks, blog growth strategies, and food photography. It’s a breathe of fresh air to be around others who speak the same blog language, and I’m excited to focus exclusively on my blog this weekend. No work or other things to worry about.
This is a pretty timely post, since one of the Blog Brulee sponsors is California Ripe Olives and we have been snacking on some olive recipes here at the retreat.
I was pretty excited when I saw that the recipe challenge for September was to use California Ripe Olives in a recipe because I have a pretty funny past with olives.
I only started to really love olives in the past year or so. When I was a kid, I hated them and would go to every length to remove them by putting them on my mom’s plate. But when I got to high school and college I graduated to eating olive bread or olive tapenade to spread on bread, but that was as far as I took my olive eating. It had to be accompanied with bread.
In the past year, I have become a full-on olive lover and I eat them plain! My favorite way to eat them is still paired with cheese and bread, so when I starting thinking of a recipe to make, I knew it had to be something that even olive agnostics could get into.
This recipe is pretty simple to make. I promise…
Both the focaccia bread and olive tapenade require just combining a bunch of ingredients in a food processor (or cake mixer), setting the dough aside to rise, and then assembling everything.
Because the recipe calls for whole wheat flour, the focaccia bread didn’t get quite as fluffy as white focaccia. If you want to ease into the whole wheat thing, then I recommend starting with 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white flour.
This recipe makes a lot of bread, so I recommend freezing what you don’t eat or giving it away. I gave some to friends, family and stashed some in the freezer for later.
And if you still aren’t sure about the whole olive thing, then make the bread plain!
I received free samples of California Ripe Olives mentioned in this post. By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by California Ripe Olives and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.
- 1 3/4 cups warm water
- 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
- 5 sprigs fresh rosemary leaves, chopped and divided
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 5 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus coarse sea salt for sprinkling
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 and 1/2 cups California ripe black pitted olives (or 1 6 oz. can, drained)
- 1 lg. garlic clove
- 6 sundried tomatoes packed in oil
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or food processor, combine the water, yeast, 2 teaspoons of the chopped rosemary, sugar, and half the flour. Stir/process to combine.
- Add in the remaining flour, salt, and 1/2 cup olive oil and process again until combined and up to 2 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, at least 1 hour.
- Add all ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth. Add more salt or pepper to taste.
- Put focaccia dough on a well oiled baking sheet and press down with your fingers until is spread evenly and fills most of the baking sheet.
- Cover dough with plastic and let sit in a warm place to rise for another hour.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Spoon olive tapenade onto the dough and spread in patches over the dough. Sprinkle with remaining chopped rosemary and course sea salt.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges. Remove and let cool slightly before slicing. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
If you would like to start with 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white flour that should work fine.
Focaccia recipe adapted from Handle the Heat.
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Holy YUM!! I love foccacia bread, I used to buy it all the time from the Farmers Market when I could. Glad you jumped on the olive train, it’s a great place to be 🙂
this is fantastic. just what i was looking for to make another foccacia bread. i’ve also made foccacia bread recipes into bread loaves with great success.