I hope I don’t step on anyone’s toes with this …
Back when this recipe was initially introduced here, I made it, then I tweaked it. And I increased the flour to make 2 loaves, or a loaf and a focaccia. It remains one of our favorite naturally leavened breads. It is a good recipe, beginner or not. My tweaks might move it a bit from the ‘beginner’ standing. Jump to the end to see my comment about using sun dried tomatoes.
I think it easy for the flavor of rosemary to overwhelm the wonderful flavors of the wheat, olives, and sourdough ferment. In making the tweaks, my goal was to use the rosemary to compliment, not allowing it to dominate any of those other flavors. I also use the smaller Kalamata olives, halved lengthwise. If I have to use the larger olives, I quarter them, cutting lengthwise, then across, to avoid a big chunk of olive texture-bombing the chewy crumb. I mix the rosemary in with the flour when making the dough, but add the olives during “manly” stretch and folds to evenly distribute them without squishing or destroying them. After doing the final shaping, I push any exposed olive into the dough and pinch it closed to prevent surface olives on the bread during the bake.
I WASH THE OLIVES!!! Actually, I rinse them to remove as much of the preserving brine and vinegar as possible, then drain well before incorporating in the recipe. This makes a big difference in flavor. Vinegar is not necessarily an unwanted flavor in bread, but I am going to pick up a preferred “sour” with the preferment.
I make a 50% hydrated preferment using a combination of 3 flours; 50% bread flour, 25% whole wheat flour, and 25% whole rye flour. The whole wheat sourdough starter (70% hydration) is added at 45% of the weight of the combined flours. After getting ‘proof of life’, I toss the preferment into the fridge for a day or two. When using the preferment, I allow it come back to room temperature for several hours, or overnight, biasing toward the more sour hetrofermentative AAB. For the final dough, I just mix the preferment with bread flour, water, and a pinch of salt. Oh, and fresh rosemary. The almost 700 g (total) of flours I use to make 2 loaves will have only 5 g of rosemary in it. After ‘proof of life’, the dough goes into the fridge.
With a hydration tweak (or not), the recipe also makes a great focaccia. I do not push down any exposed olives like when making bread. I add more olives, whole olives, after the second fermentation, pushing them into the dough but leaving them exposed, just before baking. Sprinkle with course salt (I use Maldon), and drizzle with a good EVOO from Liguria. Sometimes I add lots of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained.
Btw, the same recipe makes excellent sun dried tomato bread. Instead of olives, substitute with 70 g sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained and chopped. Add 30 g (2 Tbsp) of the tomato’s olive oil to the dough. Like with olives, I add the tomatoes during the stretch and folds so they are evenly distributed. This, too makes a good focaccia.