I have been really sick for the last few days with a really nasty cold mostly living on chicken soup. I had seen this beautiful bread on this lovely blog and been thinking about it since I saw it a week  or so ago! Anyway, I knew I had everything I needed in the house, so today when I felt slightly better, I decided to make it. I must say its the first time ever I have made a proper bread with yeast! I went on this crazy “I am going to bake bread” spree a long time ago when I moved to New York (cause I found all the local bread had way too much sugar in it, it  really took some time to find decent bread) and bought all sorts of stuff necessary to make bread. All these amazing bread making and other whole grain supplies have sat for two years in my kitchen cupboard. There was one time when right in the beginning my husband attempted to make some very beautiful looking bread. While it lived up to its looks, it was way to dense and felt like each bite took for ever to bite off and chew…you literally felt tired after eating a couple of bites of this bread, and ended up with an ache in your jaw!
This one bad experience and the thought of all the effort required and the multiple rising periods was just too much and I never even attempted to make bread myself. Two years later, looking at all the space these unused ingredients take up I decided to start using them all up and emptying my cupboards to make space and feel lighter! A spring clean for the pantry! Anyway, thats why I ended up making a cornbread with chili and cheese last week (using up some never opeaned cornmeal packets, there is still so much left!) and now this very tasty little number which I am so glad I got to attempt. It just tastes that good. Now I am thinking I should make some soup for dinner to go with this…aah! I wonder what soup will go with this bread? … I will think about that later! Anyhow, here is the very delicious recipe for you. Please check out liz’s original blog post to see really detailed pictures for each step.
Now comes the fun part…
Feta and Olive Pull-Apart Bread
Preparation: 30 minutes + 1½ hours standing time; Baking Time: 35-45 minutes; Makes: 10 pieces
Ingredients
- 450g all-purpose (plain) flour (1Ib, 3 cups Australian; 3½ cups US)
- 1½ teaspoons instant yeast (Fleischmann’s)Â
- ½-1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¾-1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon castor sugar
- 150ml (â…” cups) warm milk
- 180ml (â…” cups + 2 tablespoons) warm water
- ½ cup coarsely chopped pitted olives
- 1/3 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
- 150g Feta cheese, crumbled
- 3 tablespoons finely shredded oregano (or 1½ teaspoons dried oregano)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) 15 minutes before baking bread. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf tin (pan) with oil or cooking spray.
- Sift the flour, yeast, pepper, salt and sugar into a bowl. Make a well in the centre.
- Add the water and milk and mix to a soft but not sticky dough. Turn out on to a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until smooth and free from cracks. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling wrap (plastic wrap) and leave in a warm place for 50-60 minutes or until doubled in size.
- Knock back the dough, sprinkle with flour, cover and let rest 5 minutes. Roll into a 16 x 10 inch rectangle. With the long side facing you, scatter the olives, feta and oregano lengthways over half the dough, leaving a half-inch border around the edges. Drizzle the olive oil over the filling
- Fold the dough over the filling and seal the edges with your fingertips. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough, width ways into 10 slices. Roll up each dough tightly, lengthways and carefully place in the pan, cut side down.
- Using your hands, press down on the surface of the dough to make it even. Cover with a large polythene bag and set aside in a warm place for about 1 hour until well risen to the top of the pan (tin).
- Bake for 35-45 minutes until golden. When cooked the loaf will sound hollow if tapped on the base. Pull-apart and enjoy. This bread is best served warm.
- **I weigh the flour and butter. I do not use cup measures. The weight of a cup of flour tends to vary based on individual interpretation, publication and size of cup used (from 125g to 130g to 155g per cup)
- Cup measures based on assumption, 1 cup = 125g flour so that would be the US cup of 237ml, not the Australian Cup. The Australian cup = 155g flour so that would change cup measures.
I hope you managed to make the soup and I am glad to hear you enjoyed the bread. I totally love it too!!!!!