Main

Olive Bread / Eliopsomo

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

a perfect loaf of traditional Greek eliopsomo / olive bread

Eliopsomo (eeleeOPsomo), traditional Greek olive bread, combines two of my forever-favorites into one – bread and olives πŸ™‚

This no-knead, slow-rise, authentically vegan recipe takes five of the most basic ingredients and turns them into heaven. In an effort to reproduce an authentic Greek bread baking method using clay covered bakers, I use a clay bread cloche. These are easy to find and not very expensive and give you the most amazingly crunchy crust! Another option would be a Dutch oven, I’ve used them a few times when baking away from home and the results were wonderful.

a light crumb, high rise and full of juicy olives!

Simply mix everything together in a large bowl, cover with a cloth and set in a warm spot to rise for 8-10 hours. Turn the risen dough into your cloche or Dutch oven, cover and bake for 1 hour at 450 degrees. D.U.N. done! Fresh bread for you πŸ™‚

Below is a bit slower run-down of the above!

  • 4 1/2 cups all purpose or whole wheat flour**
  • 2 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp dry yeast
  • 2 cups lukewarm water
  • 1 cup pitted, chopped Kalamata olives
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 tsp semolina flour for bottom of cloche (optional)

**Whole wheat or white whole wheat flour are very nice in this recipe too. That said, I do make sure let the dough go a full 10 hours with whole wheat and it gives you a bit more dense finished crumb.

In a large bowl, completely combine flour, salt and yeast. Slowly, about a half cup at a time, add water and mix by hand. Continue to add water by half cups until ingredients come together in a rough ball. Add in chopped olives and mix into dough to disperse olives evenly. Cover bowl with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place to rise for 8-10 hours.

Optional: Prepare you cloche bottom or Dutch oven by sprinkling a teaspoon or so of semolina flour (course or fine) over the bottom surface.

When risen, turn the dough out directly onto the cloche bottom or into your Dutch oven. Bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for exactly 1 hour. Uncover and check for doneness – for new bread bakers, use an instant read thermometer. You’re looking for anywhere from 87-93 degree internal bread temperature. More experienced bakers, tap the bottom of the loaf and listen for doneness. Honestly, one hour covered hits the mark every time for me!

Allow bread to rest for about 15 minutes before diving in. The loaf above was sliced for pre-portioning at a potluck but do try just tearing off a chunk with your hands. Very satisfying πŸ™‚

For more amazing Greek vegan recipes, check out our six-week meal plan! It’s back by popular demand and available now – just click image below πŸ™‚Β 

, , , , ,

7 Responses to Olive Bread / Eliopsomo

  1. Eli June 27, 2018 at 3:15 am #

    Love your recipes, thank you for sharing!

    Tried this one yesterday and it stuck to the Dutch oven. Wondering if a variation with olive oil would help…

    • Kiki June 27, 2018 at 4:28 pm #

      Eli, I can’t imagine what went wrong! I have never once had a loaf stick, so sorry πŸ™ I do know something that you might try – a good friend of mine cooks breads in her cast iron pan lined with a square of parchment paper (450 degree heat limit) and swears by this method. She lines the pan first so that each corner of the parchment square is above the rim of the pan and simply tips the risen dough right on top of it. I think this may be your solution! Kiki πŸ™‚

      • Eli July 13, 2018 at 4:43 am #

        Thank you, Kiki.

        Trying the recipe again today with lined parchment. The Dutch oven that I borrowed from my friend has a coating (ceramic possibly). This might have been the culprit. πŸ™‚

  2. Laana July 1, 2018 at 3:36 pm #

    Made it yesterday! Turned out great! Soft and airy inside with a super crispy crust. I let it rise for about 15h (simply didn’t have time to bake it earlier). I also put my Dutch oven into the cold oven and let it heat up for 30 min before putting the dough. I baked the bread for 45 min with the lid on and then for another 15 min without the lid. No problems with removing the bread from the Dutch oven, perfectly done, beautiful and nicely rustic. Thank you! It’s wonderful to finally find a Greek vegan blog!

  3. Jackie Curtis September 9, 2018 at 2:09 pm #

    Do I use bread flour ?

    • Kiki September 9, 2018 at 10:35 pm #

      all purpose, whole wheat, white whole wheat all work well. no need for bread flour here πŸ™‚

  4. Catherine April 22, 2020 at 11:11 am #

    Soooo yummy! I made it this morning after leaving it overnight. A+

    The recipe though calls for Rosemary, but it isn’t listed in the instructions. I ended up forgetting to put i5 in, but will add it next time.

Leave a Reply

Quantcast