Rocco's Olive Bread

"Skyere, don't let the lack of a bread machine deter you from making bread the old fashioned way. I don't own a bread machine, nor do I have any desire to. I do, however, have a KitchenAid stand mixer ..." See morewhich helps with the kneading process. This is how I start out all of my breads no matter what the directions say. I pour the warm water into the mixing bowl and then add the yeast and sugar and then stir. This particular recipe calls for brown sugar so I would go with that, but normally when a bread recipe calls for regular white sugar, I use honey instead. The sugar by itself or in the honey will help the yeast to proof. From there you can then add your butter, garlic, flour, garlic and olives. If you don't have a heavy duty stand mixer, you'll have to knead the dough for about eight minutes until it's smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a bowl with a bit of olive oil and coat. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let it sit in a warm place until it doubles in size. (about an hour) Punch the dough down, knead for a few minutes and if you have the time, you can give it a second rise. Punch down again and shape dough into a loaf and place on a cookie sheet. Cover loaf and let rise again; about thirty minutes. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn't as bad as it seems. Plus I think it's so much more satisfying than throwing a bunch ingredients into a machine. Have fun!"

"My 6 and 8 yr olds are clamoring for more of this bread. I used two small cans of sliced olives, drained, and I upped the butter to 2 tbsp and increased the garlic salt to 1 tsp. This bread was so goo..." See mored, we were going back for seconds, and our dog snatched it off the counter! That's the first time he's ever done that, so I guess he'd give it a 5-star rating, too. Am going to make this again tonight for our church small group. Thanks for the recipe; my only advice to the person who had their olives macerated would be to use whole, pitted olives instead of the sliced ones. Or else, make the bread by hand without the machine. This is an easy, tasty recipe, wonderful with melted butter. **Updated 1/23/08** Used a cup of whole olives (pitted kalamatas and green olives) plus a can of drained, sliced black olives for variety. Love this bread! Great warm with melted butter! Kids, now ages 7&9 love it, too!"

"when my machine said to addd the olives, i needed to add more flour, the olives made the dough very mushy. Turned out wonderful, tho...." See more"