Rustic Olive Rolls
Makes 6 rolls
Ingredients
Starter
- ¹⁄₁₆ tsp instant yeast
- 1 cup (4½ oz) bread flour
- ½ cup (4 oz) cool water
Dough
- all of starter
- ½ cup (4 oz) lukewarm water
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups (9 oz) unbleached bread flour
- ¾ cup pitted and chopped olives, wrung dry in a dish towel
Special Equipment
- tea towel or linen towel
- baking stone
How-to
Make Starter:
- Mix the water, yeast, and flour, mixing until the flour is incorporated
- Cover and let rest at room temperature for about 14 hours; the starter will be bubbly. If you make this in the late afternoon, it’ll be ready to go by the next morning
Make Dough
- Combine the starter with the remaining dough ingredients
- If kneading by hand, knead 5-6 minutes on a floured surface. If using a stand mixer, mix on low speed with dough hook attachment for 5-6 minutes. You can use a bread machine by setting it on the dough cycle. All methods should yield a soft, smooth dough
- Place the dough in a lightly-greased bowl. Cover, and let it rise at room temperature for 1-1½ hours; it should have become puffy
- Dust top of dough with flour. Gently deflate and stretch the dough, and transfer it to a lightly-floured work surface. Sprinkle the olives atop the dough. Roll lengthwise, encasing the olives and forming a long log
- Fold log into thirds. You should now have a loaf shape
- Cover and let rest at room temperature 5-10 minutes
- Place a tea or linen towel on a parchment-lined sheet tray. Dust towel evenly with flour
- Take rested dough and pat into a 9" x 8" rectangle. The more careful you are to make the corners of the rectangle square, the nicer your rolls will look
- Cut into six 3” x 4” pieces. Place each piece onto floured towel, spaced apart in two rows. Bunch the towel in between the rows to prevent the pieces from rising into each other
- Cover with plastic wrap that is lightly-greased with non-stick cooking spray, and let rise at room temperature 45-60 minutes
- Meanwhile, preheat oven and baking stone to 425º- allow 45 minutes-60 minutes for your oven and stone to get up to temperature
- After rising, gently lift the rolls off the cloth, and transfer them, floured-side-up onto heated baking stone
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until they’re golden brown
- Remove from oven, and cool