Sun-dried tomato and olive wholemeal bread

I’ve never been that confident at baking bread, but I got a KitchenAid for my birthday this year so I have given it another go and it came out a treat. The smell of the bread as it was baking was incredible and it tasted equally good!

As this was my first attempt I kept this recipe simple and putting it all together is so easy, it is just the proving and baking parts that take time.

We all know that shop bought bread contains ingredients that we wouldn’t put into a loaf of bread we make at home. So this already makes it so much healthier for us, but here are some of the added health benefits from adding sun-dried tomatoes and olives:

Sun-dried tomatoes and olive are so good for us (as well as being delicious). They are both antioxidants, therefore they neutralize free radicals in the body and lower inflammation. Due to these antioxidants both sun-dried tomatoes and olives can protect us from various forms of cancer. For example the triterpene phytonutrients in olives, including erythrodiol, uvaol and oleanolic acid, have been found to interrupt the life cycle of breast cancer cells. Finally, as with a lot of fruits and vegetables sun-dried tomatoes and olives also help to look after our hearts by regulating blood pressure.

There are many more benefits to these ingredients – I encourage you to have a Google and look them up!

The Recipe

Ingredients

500 g wholemeal flour

15 g Himalayan salt

55 ml olive oil

2 tsp yeast

275 ml water

90 g black olives

90 g sun-dried tomatoes

Method

Mix the flour, salt, olive oil, yeast, and water in a large bowl.

and knead….. (I let the KitchenAid do this for me, but if you’re not using one then knead for about ten minutes) you need the dough to be elastic, smooth and shiny by the end of it.

Leave the dough in the bowl and cover with cling film, leave to rise in a warm place for one hour.

Meanwhile try to avoid eating all the sun-dried tomatoes and olives as you chop them up…

When the bread has risen, divide it into two and incorporate the sun-dried tomatoes and olives. Mould it into two round shapes, place them on a baking sheet and press down on them. Sprinkle them with a little wholemeal flour and mark each of them with a cross.

Then allow to rise for another hour…

Pre-heat the oven to 220°C and when the dough has risen pop them in to the oven for 25 minutes. Check after this time, they may need an extra 5 minutes.

I had some friends over in the evening so we cut up one of the loafs and had it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, so delicious! I’ll definitely be baking this again!

Happy Baking! X