OK Marcella, you got me again.
I’ve made non-breadmaker bread many times, albeit a few years ago. So I wasn’t expecting any glitches in making my ultimate recipe for this project – figured I could whip it up the day before, take a few pics, post my report the evening before & schedule it to appear early the next morning. Easy peasy.
Pretty simple ingredients – unbleached flour, olive oil, olives, salt, yeast. Well, after all it is bread. What could be simpler?

OK, gotta make a starter – called a biga – some yeast, water, flour, olive oil. Oh, oh, it’s supposed to rise 14 to 18 hours – so that’s why this recipe didn’t appear earlier today. Also there’s a big mystery concerning the biga, which I will explain later.
The risen biga below:

The bread dough below, including water, yeast, half the biga, some of the flour, the salt, the rest of the flour, some water & the olives. I used a wooden spatula to mix the ingredients together.

One of Marcella’s directions calls for occasionally lifting the dough out of the bowl with the spatula & slapping it back in. I liked that part.

After rising for a few hours, the dough is flattened and lightly kneaded. Then it is shaped into a ball and allowed to rise again under a bowl. before baking in the oven at differing degrees for about an hour.

The final result. Best olive bread I’ve ever made – also the first.

The biga mystery? Well, the directions call for using half of the starter at an early stage, but no mention of the other half. I read & re-read Marcella’s directions several times to see if I missed something. So the final result is a very good loaf of olive bread & half of the biga.
What I liked about this recipe:
It’s been a long time since I’ve made bread – enjoyed the experience. Also, I liked using my wooden spatula, keeping the hand kneading to a minimum.
What didn’t I like about this recipe:
Two days to make a loaf of bread?
Will I make it again?
Perhaps. The final result is very good.