I love olives. I love olives stuffed with pimentos, or not. I love green olives, I love black olives. I am the only one in our house who does love olives, so…. When the spouse is away, the baker can play. Several years ago when Fran was away I would treat myself to a dish of grilled turkey sausage over a bed of black beans and white rice and finished with a monolayer of sliced jalapenos.  Mmmmmm… But I digress, I was talking about olives.

Paul Hollywood made olive bread sticks on a GBBO Masterclass month. You may know, I love olives and you may also have caught the hint with Fran away I can make a variety of foods I prefer not to make. I made olive bread sticks today.

I used Paul’s recipe and technique, and it worked spot on, first time. I cut the recipe in half and ended up with about 18 bread sticks about an olive wide and 12” long. As an experiment, I added and egg wash to 4 and coated the tops of 4 with butter. It was not needed. It didn’t offer much. I wonder how they would be with turkey sausage and jalapenos?

INGREDIENTS

• 1kg/2lb 2oz strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
• 20g/¾oz salt
• 20g/¾oz instant yeast
• 800ml/1½ pints tepid water
• 4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for oiling
• 1 x 1kg/2lb 2oz jar pitted green olives in brine, drained
• fine semolina, for dusting (optional)

METHOD

1. Oil two 2-3 liter/3½-5¼ pints square plastic container. (One for half recipe.)
2. Put the flour into the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add three-quarters of the water and begin mixing on a slow speed. As the dough starts to come together, gradually add the remaining water.
3. Mix for a further 5-8 minutes on a medium speed. The dough should now be wet and stretch easily when pulled. Add the olive oil and mix for a further two minutes. Add the olives and mix until well-distributed.
4. Put the dough into the oiled containers and leave until they have at least tripled in size – for approximately an hour.
5. Line four baking trays with baking parchment or silicone paper and preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas
6. Dust the work surface heavily with flour – add some semolina too, if you have some. Carefully tip the dough onto the surface. It will be very loose and flowing – but don’t worry. Rather than knocking it back, handle it gently so that you keep as much air in the dough as possible.
7. Dust the top of the dough with flour and then stretch it out gently to a rough rectangle. Starting at one long edge, cut the dough into approximately 36 strips. Stretch each piece out until 20-25cm/8-10in long. Place six strips onto each of the prepared baking trays, spacing them apart.
8. Bake the dough sticks for 10-15 minutes. Cool on wire rack.