Sourdough Ciabatta with Olives and Rosemary

This is one of my all-time favourite bread recipes. I sometimes make it with no additions, or with a larger component of whole wheat flour, but it's always beloved by everyone who tries it. It's a wheat bread with character and texture, full of large holes that give it that nice artisanal look, and has plenty of aroma even if you don't add the olives and rosemary. Of course, why wouldn't you? Olives are one of my favourite things, and baked into a fantastic loaf of bread the become even better. The rosemary's herbal, resinous flavour goes well with them, creating a bread good enough to be eaten completely on its own.

It makes a great bread to eat with cheese or herbed olive oil, as well- or for making burgers or sandwiches. You can try it with green olives instead of black, or oregano or thyme instead of rosemary, for a twist. You can substitute 200-300 g. of flour for whole wheat or spelt to give it a more distinct flavour, too.

Sourdough Ciabatta with Olives and Rosemary
Adapted from Ketex

For the Sourdough:
50 g. Whole wheat flour
40 g. Water
5 g. Sourdough starter

Mix all and let sit at room temperature for 16-18 hours.

For the dough:
Sourdough
950 g. Bread flour
30 g. Olive oil, plus more to grease 
685 g. Water
22 g. Fresh yeast, or 7 g. Active dry yeast
15 g. Salt
1 Jar of black olives, drained
2-3 Sprigs rosemary, minced

Dissolve yeast in water along with sourdough. Mix in oil. Add flour and knead for 20 minutes on medium-high using a stand mixer, or until elastic and stringy. Add olives and rosemary towards the end by hand.

Divide the dough into two halves and place each in a ziploc bag greased thoroughly with olive oil. Let rise 1 hour, after each 30 minutes stretching and folding the dough from outside the bag by flipping and twisting it. 

Let rise another 45 minutes, then stretch and fold again. Empty bags onto a floured surface and either cut into buns or allow to remain in one piece. Let rise covered for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 220℃. Bake for 30 minutes for buns, or 44-55 for a whole loaf, spraying the interior of the oven with a spray bottle of water each 10 minutes.