Pane all’Olive (Olive Bread)
My Bread
Makes one 10-inch loaf

I’m giving you the recipe as written in the book without any additional salt.  If you make it and add salt, let me know how it works out.  I will update this recipe when I make it again (soon).  Also, Lahey recommends using already pitted olives so they don’t get too smushed and color the bread.  I used Kalamata.  UPDATE 12-11:  I did use 2 grams of salt in the bread and I think it was perfect!

400 grams (3 cups) bread flour
200 grams (1½) cups pitted olives
¾ tsp. (3 grams) instant or active dry yeast
300 grams (1½ cups) cool water
Wheat bran, cornmeal, or additional flour for dusting

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, ovels, and yeast.  Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds.  Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours.

When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour.  Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece.  Using lightly floured hands or a bowl scraper or spatula, lift the edges of the dough in toward the center.  Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.

Place a tea towel on your work surface and generously dust it with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour.  Gently place the dough on the towel, seam side down.  If the dough is tacky, dust the top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour.  Fold the ends of the tea towel loosely over the dough and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours.  The dough is ready when it is almost doubled.  If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression.  If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475ºF, with a rack in the lower third, and place a covered 4½ to 5½-quart heavy pot in the center of the rack.

Using pot holders, carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it.  Unfold the tea towel and quickly but gently invert the dough into the pot, seam side up.  (Use caution, the pot will be very hot.)  Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and continue baking until the bread is a deep chestnut  brown but not burnt, 15 to 30 minutes more.  Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to gently lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool completely.