Ramadan Mubarak to all my wonderful readers who observe it.

Hello everyone 🙂 Yes, I am still here and I have not vanished off the face of the earth lol Moving  a family from one country to another is a huge adventure and regardless of how prepared you think you are, you are sure to get a few pleasant surprises along the way 🙂 I will  do my best to reply to your emails , questions and comments soon, thank you for your patience .In my upcoming posts I will tell you more about the whole  move experience and hopefully manage to tell you a little more about Ramadan before this beautiful month is over.

In the mean time, there is nothing like a  Secret recipe club reveal date to get me out of my blogging slumber.

The assignment

For the month of July, my assigned blog was Della cucina povera. The beautiful Francesca describes her blog as being about a tuscan way of life. Using simple, seasonal ingredients and forgiving measurements. Francesca’s mother is Italian and her father is Iranian and she grew up enjoying this mix in her family’s restaurant in Washington. Later on, she traveled through out  North America, the Middle East, Asia and Europe in the pursuit of adventure. She shares the stories and recipes she came across on those foreign paths.

The recipe: no knead olive bread

After a tour in Francesca’s archives,I decided to go for her no knead bread because at the time of preparing this recipe, we were packing and anything with minimum effort and involvement seemed like the perfect choice. Added to that, I have been intrigued by the idea of no knead bread for quite some time and as always, I find that  secret recipe club assignments are the perfect opportunity to cross things off my “must try soon” list.

 The result:

The bread as the name implies requires no kneading, it relies on slow fermentation instead. All you have to do is invest 5 minutes to mix up the ingredients and then let time do the magic. The end result is a loaf of bread with a beautiful crisp walnut colored crust and a soft and chewy interior. The olives scattered throughout the crumb add color and a delicious richness to the bread.

My addition to the recipe was a tablespoon of rosemary, simply because I think rosemary and black olives are a match made in heaven, especially when bread is concerned. If you have never tried the two together, please do. You can thank me later 🙂

I found the process of making this bread reminiscent of sourdough bread . The wet dough, the long fermentation and the final shaping of the bread.The difference is that a sourdough starter adds a certain richness and depth of flavor to the bread in addition to being a leavening agent.

No knead olive bread

Recipe source: From Jim Lahey’s My Bread. Ingredients

• 3 Cups Bread Flour
• 1 1/2 Cup Kalamata Olives, pitted, drained, roughly chopped
• 3/4 Teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 Cups cool water
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (optional)

Method

Preparing the dough

In a bowl mix the flour and yeast Add the drained,pitted,chopped olives and the rosemary Add the water and mix using your hands or a spoon Cover the mix and allow it to rest at room temperature for 14-18 hours The dough will turn into a bubbly mess! That is actually OK because it means that the yeast is active and it has done its job

 

Shaping the dough

Scrape your dough onto a heavily floured surface (the dough will be very wet and almost batter like in consistency)

Liberally flour the top of the dough and just fold it a few times.

If you find that the dough is too sticky, add more flour

Eventually you want it to be firm enough to form a ball or loaf with it.

Take a large tea towel and sprinkle it liberally with flour, then plop your dough in the center, and cover your dough with the corners of your tea towel. (I personally proofed my bread on the baking sheet but that resulted in it spreading during baking, next time I will probably proof in in a pan and bake it in it as well)

Let the loaf ferment and proof for another two hours.

After your bread has been proofing for about 90 minutes, preheat your oven to AS HOT AS YOU CAN.

Bake  until the edges are golden brown and when you knock on the “back” of the bread, and it gives you a nice hollow sound.( it took me 30 minutes, the original recipe calls for 40-50 minutes, ovens vary. please keep that in mind) Allow the bread to cool down completely on a wire rack before cutting into it

Notes:

The bread spread quite a bit during baking, I would suggest making it in a loaf pan if you want it to retain its shape. It was still quite tasty but when sliced it was a little on the thin side.

 

خبز الزيتون بدون عجن

ثلاث اكواب طحين

واحد و نصف كوب زيتون اسود مبزر و مصفى من الماء و مفروم

ثلاث ارباع ملعقه صغيره خميره

واحد و نصف كوب ماء

ملعقه كبيره اكليل الجبل مفروم

لتحضير العجين

اخلطي الطحين و الخميره

اضيفي الزيتون و كليل الجبل

اضيفي الماء و حركي باليد او بملعقه خشبيه

غطي العجين و دعيه يرتاح من 14-18 ساعه

سيتحول العجين الى قوام سائل مليء بالفقاقيع

لتشكيل العجين

رشي كميه من الطحين على سطح العجن و صبي العجين فوقه

رشي العجين بالكثير من الطحين و اثني العجين على نفسه عده مرات

اذا احسستي ان العجين لازال لزجا و يلصق باليد اضيفي المزيد من الطحين

استمري باضافه الطحين و ثني العجين على نفسه حتى يصبح متماسك و يمكن تشكيله على شكل كره

شكليه على شكل كرة و ضعيه على صينيه الخبز و غطيه مده ساعتين

يمكنك ايضا تخميره برش فوطه بالكثير من الطحين ووضع العجين في وسطها ثم اغلقي الفوطه على العجين و دعيه يتخمر

ضعي العجين على صينيه الخبز و اخبزيه في فرن محمى مسبقا على اعلى درجه حراره يصلها فرنك

اخبزيه حتى تصبح اطرافه ذهبيه و اذا طرقتي على الرغيف من الاسفل يعطي صوت اجوف

اخرجي الخبز من الفرن و دعيه يبرد