Olive Spelt Bread

Olive Spelt Bread?  Hmmm...Nancy Silverton makes a kalamata olive bread that I like but not everyone in my family likes the slightly bitter taste of the black olives in her bread.  Since I loved the focaccia that I made with the avocado bread a while back, and because this dough is very wet and sticky, that's what it became...focaccia.  There was an open jar of Manzanilla stuffed green olives in the Spring City fridge, so my bread has pimento in it as well.  The pimentos add a nice touch of bright color to the dough, so why pick them out?

The process for mixing this dough is the same technique used in the other doughs from Healthy Bread in Five.

After letting it rest overnight in the refrigerator, I formed it into a rectangle and set it into a greased 9x13-inch Pyrex pan.  Flour your fingers well and often and punch indentations into the dough.  I drizzled it with a premium quality olive oil that I save for finishing.  It looks like a lot of olive oil in the photo doesn't it?  It's not; it just fell into the holes. Besides adding extra flavor, I was hoping the olive oil would help the bread get nice and crunchy on top.  It didn't.  Next time I bake focaccia I will brush some egg wash on top for more color.  It was a little pale in my opinion.  A sprinkle of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper did add a nice flavor touch.  Let it raise for 90 minutes (60 minutes does it for my altitude) and into the oven at 450 degrees Farenheit for 20  minutes.

This is good bread.  Not my favorite from the book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day but it is moist and pretty.  I prefer a chewier and crispier loaf and I found the green olives a bit bland.  If I make this bread again I will try a bolder flavored olive.  I guess that's why I like Nancy Silverton's bread better, but it was fun to try this one.  Go to Michelle's site (Big Black Dog) to see what everyone else in the group did with this recipe.