Easy cheesy olive bread

I know that it can be stressful waiting and going through all the steps in the traditional bread making process – so I’ve come up with this super easy recipe. This recipe takes no time at all to get to the proving stage and then only about an hour to prove, 40 minutes to cook so realistically overall it’s about 2 hours all up before you serve this bread!

Ingredients

15 g	Dried instant yeast (Main)
480 g	High grade flour (Main)
4 sprigs	Fresh thyme
2 tsp	Celery salt
1 tsp	Caster sugar
4 Tbsp	Extra virgin olive oil
150 g	Pitted black olives, roughly chopped (Main)
75 g	Finely grated parmesan
1 tsp	Flake salt
280 ml	Water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 195°C.In a cake mixer bowl add yeast, flour, salt and sugar. In a jug add 280ml hot water (not so hot you can't place your hand in it) then add 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Using a dough hook in the mixer, add all hot water and oil at once and mix on a low speed for 5 minutes.
2. Sprinkle a clean working surface with additional flour. Tip the dough out onto floured surface and knead the dough by stretching it away from you, then fold in half towards you, give it a quarter turn and repeat the process. When the dough is smooth return to bowl, cover with a tea towel and allow to prove in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1 hour or when dough springs back at you when pressing with your finger.
3. Tip dough out onto lightly floured clean working surface then knead in thyme, olives and parmesan. Shape dough into a ball and place on a greased baking tray or pizza stone. Using a sharp knife slash an X into the top, then using a pastry brush, brush top with remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle over flake salt. Cover the dough with a tea towel and allow it to prove in a warm place for 45 minutes. Transfer to oven and bake for 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Serve this bread with Simon's ricotta spread:

Ricotta cheese spread