Olive Breadsticks and Focaccia
Use your favorite stuffed olives in this great accompaniment to Spanish or Italian dishes. It makes a good tapas dish too!
Olive Breadsticks and Focaccia
Ingredients
- 2 pounds white bread flour plus extra for dusting
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 2/3 teaspoons fast acting yeast 1 package
- 3 cups water
- 4 tbsp olive oil plus extra for oiling
- 2 pounds pitted olives in brine drained
Instructions
- Lightly oil two 3 pint +/- square plastic containers.
- Use the bowl of a mixer with a dough hook. The dough will be too sticky to deal with by hand.
- Add the flour, salt and yeast to the mixer's bowl, then add about 3/4 of the water and mix at low speed. Add the rest of the water as the dough comes together.
- Increase the mixer speed to medium and mix for 5 minutes.
- Add the olive oil and mix for another 2-3 minutes.
- Slow down the mixer and add the olives and mix until they are mixed evenly.
- Split the dough into two even batches and put them into the oiled square plastic containers. One container will be for the focaccia, the other for breadsticks although you can use them all for breadsticks if you want.
- Cover the containers with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for about 90 minutes. The dough should at least double in size, you want it to triple in size if you can.
- Line two or three baking sheets with baking paper or parchment. One sheet for the focaccia and the other(s) for bread sticks.
- Preheat your oven to 425 ºF.
- The dough will be really sticky so dust your work surface with a lot of flour. Semolina mixed with the flour will help deal with it too.
- For the focaccia, carefully tip the dough from one container onto your work surface. You want to handle the dough as little as possible to keep the air in it. Shape the dough into a rectangle, then gently lift it on to a lined baking sheet. You may have better lick tipping it directly from the container to a lined baking sheet and use floured hands to shape it.
- For the breadsticks, carefully tip the dough from one container onto your work surface. You want to handle the dough as little as possible to keep the air in it. Shape the dough into a rectangle, then start at a long edge and cut the dough into 15 +/- strips. Stretch out each strip so they are 10 inches long and place them on to the lined baking sheets. keep them an inch or so apart.
- Bake the bread sticks for 10-15 minutes. Bake the focaccia for about 20 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack.
