Olive you!

Last week I made olive oil dough, and we made home made pizzas for dinner. They turned out great, but we were so busy eating them that I didn't snap a picture. I also made focaccia, which is similar to the prep for the pizza dough, but topped with a drizzle of olive oil, some rosemary and a sprinkle of sea salt.

To use up the rest of the olive oil dough, I just formed it into a boule and baked it as I would a normal boule. It yielded a gorgeous, moist bread. The crust was chewy and satisfying to bite in to, but not super crusty. It would have made gorgeous sandwich bread, but we ate the whole loaf plain, or dipped in olive oil, before we had the chance to make a sandwich.

Olive oil dough boule,

Olive oil boule crumb.

Because the olive oil dough is so versatile, I think it will be a staple in my kitchen. It can be a pizza, focaccia, boule/sandwich bread, or you could toss in some kalamata olives and make kalamata olive bread. Which, of course, I did! The recipe stresses to use the best quality kalamata olives you can find. Your best best is probably a fresh olive bar at Central Market or the like. This bread also benefits from a high quality, flavorful olive oil. 

Kalamata olive bread.

Kalamata olive bread, crumb.

I went to Ace Mart restaurant supply today and picked up some more fun equipment, then headed over to Sprouts for ingredients. I think the one I'm going to make next is brioche!