Olive Swirl Bread

I'm not big on bread but once upon a time when I lived in Arusha, Tanzania, there was a lady who ran a little bakery near my office. One of my friends was raving about the bakery and how fresh the bread was so I decided to pass by and grab a loaf. The lady was super nice and recommended the olive swirl bread since it wasn't a plain old loaf.

I went home and had that bread with soup and MY.LIFE.WAS.CHANGED! I ended up buying at least one loaf a week till her bakery closed down. Then I moved towns again and of course started craving her wonderfully light, savoury olive bread. So, what did yours' truly do? I googled and researched several recipes, played around with a few and came up with one that worked for me.

I love this bread because its salty and the anchovies give it an umami that I can't explain. It's my go to bread for simple soups and broths or just on its own straight out of the oven.

Makes 1 loaf

• 1 cup of olives (I mixed kalamata and green olives)

• 3 whole anchovies

• 1 tsp black Pepper

• 4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

• Olive Oil

• 400 grams all purpose flour, extra for dusting

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

• 1 tbs sugar

• 10 grams active dried yeast

Special equipment

• 25 inch loaf tin

Put the oil in a pan and add to it your olives, anchovies, black pepper and garlic and cook on a low heat until the garlic is soft. Set the mixture aside to cool.

In a bowl, put in your lukewarm water, yeast and sugar and mix well then leave it for about 10 minutes or until the yeast forms a layer of froth.

Next, gradually add the flour and use a wooden spoon to mix it. Once the dough is too heavy to mix with a spoon, use your hands to form the dough. It should be wet and sticky. Take a clean bowl and oil the sides then put your dough into the bowl and cover with cling film or a damp cloth until the dough has doubled in size.

Once the dough has risen, place it on a floured surface and gently knead it into a ball. Next, roll it out into a rectangle. Take you olive paste and spread it evenly over the dough leaving about 1inch round the edges. Oil your loaf tin and place your dough inside, cover with a cotton cloth in a warm spot and let it rise a second time for another 20 minutes or so.

After the second rise, place the bread into the oven on the middle shelf at 170C for 35 minutes or until the bread has a nice golden brown colour. Take the bread and place it on a cooking rack to cool.

Wait for the bread to cool before handling it.