Olive Bread Rolls from Cyprus

I love these olive bread rolls from macrina bakery, but I can't justify spending .79 on a roll of bread. So, I figured I'd try to make them. I found a basic recipe at "My Mom's Recipes" and changed just a couple of things.





Cyprus Olive Rolls
2 1/2 t dry active yeast
300ml warm water
1t sugar
625g flour (I used all-purpose, you might want to use bread flour or part whole wheat)
2t dry oregano (can also use dry mint, but I didn't)
1 1/2 t sea salt (plus some to sprinkle on top)
3 T extra virgin olive oil (plus some)
175g olives, pitted and sliced (I used some spanish green and some kalamata)

slicing olives yourself takes *forever*-- just buy them sliced if you can

Mix yeast and sugar and warm water in a bowl; let sit somewhere warm for 10 minutes to foam.

Mix flour, herbs, and salt together, then add yeast mixture to make dough. If necessary, add warm water teaspoon by teaspoon (I ended up adding another 4 tsp).

Knead (I used my kitchenaid) for 8-10 minutes, finishing with a few minutes of kneading by hand if you want (I did).

Let rise in lightly oiled bowl in a warm place for one hour, until doubled in size.

Knead again, adding the sliced olives. Separate into eight rounds. Let them rise on the baking sheet (someplace warm!) for 35-60 min until they're puffy again.

Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt, bake at 220C (425F) for 20-25 min, until golden. Let cool on
rack.

Devour.

These are best eaten the day they are made, but are good the next day too if you slice and toast them.






when I was little, I didn't like olives. I thought they were little bites of salty ick. As I've gotten older my sweet tooth has faded (I don't like milk chocolate) but I've developed a serious hankering for salt. I like anchovies. And olives.

When I was kneading the olives into this bread, they kept popping out and oozing juice. I just made sure to keep flouring my hands and the table (actually, I work on the top of the dishwasher...) and that kept the dough dry enough. Don't worry if the olives attempt escape. Just work 'em in and you can always poke the outliers into the individual rounds after you separate them.

These bake into soft rolls with a nice shell and they'd be great sliced in half and used for sandwiches. I don't have anything to put in them, but I have no problem eating them as they are. In fact, half of them are gone already. If I made them again, I might make 16 rolls half as big instead of the 8 like this, just to see if they last any longer, but there's a small-foods-illusion that kicks in at a certain point: "Oh, it's so little, I'll just have another...and another..." until the entire tray of minicupcakes is gone any you're wondering why there are so many crumbs under your chair. ...why are you all looking at me?