No Knead Olive Rosemary Bread

    

     This no knead bread was loaded with coarsely chopped kalamata olives and fresh rosemary.  As is the case with other no knead breads, it was easy to make, and required a long fermentation.  The dough was very wet and required a good bit of flour to be incorporated into the dough during the stretch and fold.  I am glad I did not start my exploration with this bread; I think the super wet dough would have freaked me out. I  find the more I bake, the better my feel for dough becomes.  The bread was baked in my enamel dutch oven.  The steam builds in the pot as the bread bakes, making a great crunchy crust.  The inside of the bread was extremely moist and tender.  The combined aroma of the rosemary, kalamata olives, and bread dough wafted through the entire house.  I had to keep busy to make the hour pass as quickly as possible until I could cut the loaf. I called upon ms1 (man-servant 1, Wayne, my brother is ms2) to take pics of the bread for me.  The loaf was whole when he took his first pic.  I then cut into to it so he could get a pic of the interior.  When he finished his job he asked if the cut end was his payment.  When he bit into it you could hear the crunch of the crust.  I knew it was a winner when he said, "Mmmmmmmm."  Once I tasted it, I concurred with him, "Mmmmmmmmmm."  The flavor of the dough and rosemary was enhanced by the flavorful, salty olives.  Regular ripe olives would not give this bread the same flavor as the kalamatas.  If you're going to make this bread, you have to use the kalamatas.  The recipe came from macheesmo.com , It did not call for the rosemary, but I love the flavor of fresh rosemary in bread.  Things that I find that made this a little easier: instead of using a floured towel as suggested, I used my silicone mat from King Arthur.  I also place the dough on a lightly oiled parchment sheet for the final rise.  When it's time to place the dough into the dutch oven for baking, I just lift the parchment and put the dough (parchment included) in the pot.  By using the parchment, I am able to treat the dough a little more gently and don't have to worry about deflating the dough.
     Anytime I use black olives I think back to when our nephews were little guys.  Wayne and I had not been married long when we asked Carol, my sister-in-law, to come to dinner with her husband and boys.  What do you feed kids?  I figured you can't go wrong with spaghetti and meat sauce.  I didn't add any red pepper flakes because I didn't want it to be too spicy.  I minced the onions, garlic, and bell pepper so it would cook down to the point of being invisible in the sauce.  I added a can of sliced black olives, and cooked the spaghetti a little softer than I like.   Once the kids started eating, I anxiously awaited the verdict. Little Carl looked down at his plate, and said to his mother, "Mama, Aunt Teresa burned the olives."  All I could do was laugh.
     Oh, the bread made a great panini sandwich.  We went to the big city of Alexandria and was able to find the exotic and elusive pastrami and baby swiss.  We put a little creole mustard on the sandwiches and grilled them to deliciousness.  We had a Caprese Salad on the side made with wonderful Creole tomatoes that I bought on my jaunt to "da Parish"  (St. Bernard).  I don't know what was better, the bread or the tomatoes.