Tartine Olive Walnut Bread | #Naturally leavened

A substantial and big-flavor bread. Serve with wine and cheese.

My husband requested an olive bread which I have not made for quite some time. If you like olives, this Tartine olive walnut bread is irresistible. I used some Kalamata olives and coarsely chopped them up. Furthermore, I see the wisdom of Chad Robertson’s recommendation of using green lucques olives. When you have the time to pit the olives by hand, the bread gets even better. This bread uses a Tartine country bread dough formula. In addition, I loaded the dough with roasted walnuts, sunflower seeds and dried herbs de Provence and lemon zest.

Like any varieties of the Tartine country loaf, they always look fantastic out of the oven. This bread starts with a basic white bread, with tons of add-ins. As I was cutting the loaf, a keen sense of opening up a holiday’s present unfolded. The sight of a bread full of abundant good eats filled to the rim put a huge smile on my face. Imagine, breaking bread starts feeling like getting a gift. A little weird, yes. All in all, it’s a rewarding bread-making day.

In short, the Tartine olive walnut bread uses a young leaven (20% of flour weight) and 10% whole wheat flour. Nothing out of the ordinary. However, the big winner is with all the add-ins, especially the olives. Since the dough is quite wet, series of stretch-and-fold help to strengthen it. I sprinkled more sunflower seeds around the proofing basket to prevent the dough from sticking. The dough was retarded in the fridge overnight. I made a full recipe and baked two large loaves in Dutch ovens (one round, one oval) in a preheated 500°F oven. Lower the oven temperature to 475°F as the loaves are loaded. Finally, bake for 15 minutes with the cover on and 20-25 minutes uncovered.

All the olives, nuts, seeds and herbs make for quite a substantial bread. The bread stands on its own with its fairly loud flavors. Like all good breads, serve up with some fine cheese and wine, nothing can be better!

This bread is also linked to Freshloaf and has been featured on its homepage.

Added more sunflower seeds on top

Filled with abundant good eats

Makes two loaves: one round and one bâtard