“Is this yeast really necessary? Did I make this too hot? Too cold? Is the yeast even working? Is this a waste of time?” These are the sorts of questions you may be asking yourself if you, like Jeff, are not the most confident of bakers. Of course, with time and patience you will discover in the same manner Jeff did that the yeast is doing its job and everything is “just made up in your head.” Then you will laugh to yourself about how silly you were being all along. After eating this delicious bread, you will find your desire to bake like crazy has exponentially increased and your confidence will be boosted enough to encourage this sort of baking frenzy.

There is no kneading involved in this bread, and as Jeff stated eloquently, “that’s cool because there’s less work, obviously.” Start making this bread in the early afternoon if you are thinking of preparing it for dinnertime because it does take a while between steps. The olives we used were the marinated olive medley type, though really any specific olive of preference can be used. If the olives are marinated, they will work. The marination gives the bread a nice softness, because the moisture spreads through the bread near the olives. Jeff loved the added salt as just a few crystals here and there give each bite something extra delicious, almost like that elusive umami sensation of “ahh” when you have had the very best taste of something you have ever had in your life.

After you have baked your bread, be sure to remove it from the pan as quickly as possible. Cast iron is notorious for remaining warm and that will make the olives mushy. You want to serve this bread warm anyway for the full effect, so this is just two birds with one stone, so to speak.

If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, which you should, then you can cook this bread up in a stoneware baking dish. This bread is not as shelf stable as say a grocery store bagged bread, so you should eat it up quickly! If this recipe produces more bread than you were anticipating, you can freeze it and save it for later.

Makes 8 servings.