Savory, herby, and full of olive goodness, this no-fuss Kalamata rosemary bread is a flavorful side or sandwich base that the whole family will devour.
If your child loves a particular food or recipe, you find yourself bending over backwards to make the dish that brings them so much happiness. Middle-Child is very vocal about his likes and dislikes.
When he likes something he LOVES it, and I’m sorry for you if you serve him something he doesn’t like. His biggest obsessions are pickles, olives, artichokes and hearts of palm.
So of course his favorite breads is, olive bread. But after shelling out $5 at my local Albertsons for a small round of olive bread, I finally began baking my own.
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Recipe highlights
- Simple: Baking bread isn’t complicated, if you have the right ingredients. This olive bread recipe includes kalamata olives, fresh rosemary and olive oil. I have made this boule of bread so many times that I actually enjoy kneading bread – it’s relaxing and therapeutic to transform a gloppy sticky mess into a smooth ball of bread dough.
- Texture: Every time I make this bread it is gone within 24 hours. My son tells me it is even better than what I get at the store’s bakery. Now that is a ringing endorsement! And the flavor is magical!
- Versatile: You can use regular all purpose flour or bread flour. You can use any variety olives you like, our favorite is kalamata. Skip the rosemary if you want, but it really adds tremendous flavor that compliments the olive.
- Serve: My family literally starts eating this bread while I let it rest and cool. I swat their hands away and they still go after it! Enjoy it plain or slice it and use for sandwiches. Serve it with my oven baked meatballs or dip pieces in olive oil and balsamic vinegar for a wonderful treat!
Reader’s Reviews
“My husband and I made this today, but with green olives (his preference). We also made another loaf of it but with some tomatoes … both loaves were beyond delicious! I have to say this bread is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten!” — Cindy
Ingredients you need
- Yeast: You use quick active dry yeast or instant yeast. I’ve used both with this recipe.
- Unbleached all-purpose flour: If you prefer more gluten in your bread, you can also use bread flour.
- Sugar: This is food for the yeast. Don’t worry, this olive bread recipe is not a sweet bread.
- Fresh rosemary: Dried rosemary is brittle and rough to eat, even when baked. Fresh rosemary is so much more aromatic and tender.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Choose a high quality flavorful olive oil. Taste it by itself to make sure it is not rancid. I like using an olive oil with bite and flavorful in this bread recipe, but you can also use a mild buttery oil. Learn more about baking with olive oil here.
- Kalamata olives: We prefer Greek kalamata olives in our olive bread, but you can also use green olives or a combination of olives.
- Salt: Salt not only adds flavor to the bread but it also helps control the yeast so it does not blow up the bread too much.
Step-by-step directions
- Bloom the yeast. In a small bowl mix together yeast and warm water. Let it rest for 5 to 7 minutes until yeast is foamy. If using instant yeast, simply combine yeast with flour and the rest of the ingredients.
- Combine ingredients. In a larger bowl whisk together flour, sugar, rosemary, and salt. Create a well in the center of the bowl and pour in olive oil and foamy yeast mixture.
- Form the dough. Using a fork at first, start mixing dry ingredients into wet ingredients until a coarse dough is formed. Using well-floured hands, continue to mix dough until a rough ball is formed.
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- Knead the dough. Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface, and knead adding in the chopped olives as you work. Continue to sprinkle in more flour (up to ¼ cup) while you knead until dough is smooth and not sticky, about 10 minutes.
- Let dough rise. Place dough ball onto a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and place in a warm area to rise until it doubles in size, about 2 to 3 hours.
- Score the dough. Remove the towel and cut two lines into dough. Brush with 1 teaspoon of olive oil.
- Bake the bread. Bake at 400ºF until bread is golden, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Recipes tips and FAQs
Whenever I bake a loaf, Middle-Child eats olive bread with dinner. He eats olive bread sandwiches for lunch. He even eats olive bread for breakfast or as a snack.
His two favorite foods are my chicken noodle soup and this olive bread. I know you will love it, too!
If you like this recipe, you should try some of my other yeast bread recipes like Azerbaijani sweet milk bread (shirin chorek) or the soft pretzel dough I use to make my whole wheat pretzel dogs.
This recipe is so popular that I featured it in my olive oil cookbook. And I have many posts and recipes here on my blog that uses extra virgin olive oil and how to bake with olive oil.
Storing/Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: The traditional way to store fresh bread, like olive bread, is to wrap it in a clean dish towel or paper bag and keep it in a dry place. You can wrap bread in plastic of foil which keeps the bread soft long, but also softens the outer crust.
TO FREEZE: In our house, olive bread is eaten within 24 hours of baking, so leftovers are never a problem. But if you find yourself with leftovers, wrap it You can also freeze olive bread. Wrap the bread in in freezer safe resealable bags and remove any excess air. Bread can be frozen for up to 2 months.
Honestly you can enjoy olive bread a hundred different ways. You can enjoy it alone or with some butter. You can serve it as an appetizer and dip it in some extra olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Serve it with soup, slice it to make sandwiches, serve with salad, pasta, roast chicken… you name it!
My family loves using pitted kalamata olives in our homemade olive bread. You can use any of your favorite olives in this recipe. Do be sure to pat them dry, as the brine is very wet and salty and can make the kneading difficult.
We love the addition of fresh rosemary in our homemade olive bread. You can also use fresh thyme or oregano. Other flavor options you can add to your olive bread include sun dried tomatoes, roasted garlic, garlic powder or even chile flakes.
Olive Bread with Rosemary
Ingredients
- ¾ cup warm water 100ºF
- ½ teaspoon quick active dry yeast
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus ¼ cup more for kneading
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary coarsely chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus 1 teaspoon to brush on the top
- ⅔ cup coarsely chopped kalamata olives
Instructions
- In a small bowl or measuring cup mix together the yeast and warm water. Let it rest for 5 to 7 minutes until yeast is foamy.
- In a larger bowl whisk together flour, sugar, rosemary, and salt. Create a well in the center of the bowl and pour in 2 tablespoons olive oil and foamy yeast mixture.
- Using a fork at first, start mixing dry ingredients into wet ingredients until a coarse dough is formed. Using well-floured hands, continue to mix dough until a rough ball is formed.
- Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface, and knead adding in the chopped olives as you work. Continue to sprinkle in more flour (up to ¼ cup) while you knead until dough is smooth and not sticky, about 10 minutes.
- Place dough ball onto a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and place in a warm area to rise until it doubles in size, about 2 to 3 hours.
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Remove the towel and cut two lines into dough. Brush with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and bake until bread is golden, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
My husband and I made this today, but with green olives (his preference). We also made another loaf of it but with some tomatoes I had roasted with olive oil, salt, and sugar last summer and then frozen. (I took them out a day ahead and drained them and chopped them.). We were both a little concerned because we had to add in more flour because of adding in our respective ‘wet’ ingredients. Next time we do this, I will let the olives air dry a bit before chopping them and perhaps drain the tomatoes just a bit more. But both… Read more »
Wow Cindy! These look incredible! Love that you made one loaf with roasted tomatoes. You could also try sun dried tomatoes. You can pat the wet ingredients dry and dust them with a little flour before adding to the dough. Glad you liked the recipe and thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this recipe! If I used the bread machine, do I add the entire 2 1/4 cups of flour at one go at the beginning?
Is it possible to use bread flour, if so, do we need to adjust the liquids? Thank you!
If I remember correctly, you add all 2 1/4 cups of flour into the bread machine. I got rid of my bread machine years ago, so haven’t used it in a long time. You can use bread flour. Since you aren’t kneading it by hand, I’m not sure if you need to add more liquid or not. This article from Bob’s Red Mill gives you more details on that substitution: https://www.bobsredmill.com/blog/baking-101/breaking-difference-bread-flour-vs-purpose-flour
Delicious! ! Got it at first time !! Question.. can I use instant yeast instead of active dry ?
Hi Rosie!
So glad you loved the bread! Yes you can use instant yeast too. With instant yeast you don’t need to mix it first with warm water. I just recently made this bread with instant yeast, since it was all I could find right now.
Laura
uh oh. I just realized I put in 3 TBSP of rosemary and not 3 tsp…….oops.
You can’t go wrong with more rosemary. Not in my house!
What a great recipe! I'm with middle-child love olives too. I also make bread with olives 🙂
What a beautiful bread laden with all those olives! I need to start making my own too. I pick up this tasty kalamata bread at my local Vons. You've put me to shame with your initiative. 🙂
I love olive bread! Thanks for sharing this
awesome post! what a delicious recipe! can I take it tasty! 🙂