Bread no 2 - Olive Sticks

There are many things I never baked or cooked that are haunting me. One of them were Olive Sticks. I have a vision of them [bought them couple of times] but, for some reason, never baked them at home.
When I got the book - 100 Great Breads by Paul Hollywood - I straight away looked for the recipe for some sticks. And there are two in there, but none of them is what I needed so had to adjust them a little.
But I am sure that if you try to make Grissini Sticks or Cheese Straws from the book [I may one day... sooner then later] they will delicious!
And here are my Olive Sticks:


Ingredients:
makes about 10 sticks

150g strong white bread flour + extra for dusting;
100g strong wholemeal very strong bread flour;
pinch of salt [olives are salty already, so not too big pinch];
5g of dried yeast [fast action yeast]
2 large tbsp olive oil;
about 150ml of water;
about 150g green olives [drained and can be cut in half]

1. Put flour, salt, yeast and olive oil in a ball and mix together gradually adding the water. Mix until all is just combined.
2. tip the dough out onto a floured surface and kneed for about 5 minutes [until smooth].
3. Return the dough into the ball and leave it to rest 30-60 minutes [the cooler the room the longer the dough needs to rest, but in the case of this dough it does not need to raise a lot, like for bread, only it needs to rest for a while].
4. Preheat the oven to 220C. Grease and dust with flour the baking tray.
5. Tip the dough onto a floured surface again and add olives.


6. Divide the dough into equal pieces, form [roll] long sticks and placed them on the baking tray.
7. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy! And next time - make some more!


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