EASY Bread Machine 10 Minute OLIVE BREAD

Now when I say 10 minutes I do not mean that you open the flour and 10 minutes later you are eating bread.  What I mean is that you spend literally 10 minutes of hands on effort to make this bread.  Actual start to finish is about 3 hours.  But most of that the machine and nature (the rise time) does all of the work.

If you do not yet own a bread machine, go now and buy one.  It is one of the appliances that I use almost every week (and sometimes twice a week).  Now I never ever actually bake the bread in the machine, but using it to mix and knead the dough is well worth the cost of the machine... and a hint, Goodwill and the second hand stores and usually any neighborhood garage sale will have a used machine for sale around $10.  I bought mine years ago and it still is going strong.

This particular bread came from a special request from my wife.  We made a trip to our Farmer's Market on Saturday morning.  There is a fantastic Italian grocery store on the edge of the market that has barrels of brine with Italian olives imported for our pleasure.  Well, a cup later... 10 minutes of effort and...

This bread was born!

OK... Here's what I did...

EASY Bread Machine
10 Minute KALAMATA OLIVE BREAD

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Water (warm, about 105 degrees)
• 2 TBS Butter softened to room temperature
• 1 Large Egg
• 3-1/4 Cups Flour (normal, All purpose)
• 1/3 Cup Sugar
• 1 Large Pinch of Salt
• 1 TBS Dried Oregano
• 1 TBS Dried Thyme
• 1/2 Cup to a full cup PITTED Kalamata Olives, rough chop
• 3 tsp Instant Yeast (They also call it bread machine yeast)

Cooking Directions

1. Place all the ingredients in the bread machine, select "dough" setting and allow to run the entire cycle
2. Dump out onto lightly floured surface, Shape into a cylinder loaf
3. Place on silipat or Parchment Paper, preheat a pizza stone and the oven to 375 degrees. If you do not have a pizza stone, you can bake on a cookie sheet. But the stone will help a crusty bottom. BUT, be sure to have the stone pre-heated for at least 30 minutes.
4. Allow a second rise for 40 minutes (Cover with plastic wrap and a warm towel and keep the loaf away from a draft. Try to place in a warm spot)
5. Gently transfer the parchment paper/silipat onto the preheated pizza stone
6. Bake in pre-heated 375 degree oven for 15-18 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees, until golden brown.

I made a FANTASTIC Sausage Minestrone Soup (come back tomorrow to see that recipe).  It was so packed with tremendous hearty items (Sausage and a couple of kinds of beans and lots of vegetables... even Pasta) that I did not want or need a sandwich for my typical Soup and Sandwich dinner.

Instead, just a couple of slices of this hearty filling bread to do a little dipping.

Talk about GOOD!!!

And BTW, if you have never used a bread machine before, I did a photo tutorial that will show the basics when I posted "Hamburger Buns, A Photo Tutorial".  Take a look there to see plenty of tips and photos to guarantee success!