I find adding a proportion of olives somewhere between 20 and 30 percent of the total flour to be a good starting point: Any lower and you end up with a loaf that lacks enough olive punch—a bread with olives as opposed to an olive bread. If you go the other direction, a higher than 30 percent olive-to-flour ratio starts to impact the dough’s structure and eating experience, resulting in a loaf that has less height and an overpoweringly olivey flavor.
Through several rounds of test-baking, I found 24 percent Castelvetranos to total flour weight to be just right. The flavor of the olives permeates the entire loaf even if you don’t catch a bite of the fruit. But when you do snag a piece of olive, and this happens often, the flavor is exuberant and rich, lighting up your palate.
If you can’t find Castelvetrano olives, swap them out for any pitted green olive you enjoy eating all on their own. Chances are, if you like them as a snacking olive, they’ll also be wonderful in a loaf of sourdough bread.
After the olives are rinsed and totally dry, if they still contain their pits, it’s necessary to remove them. I find it’s easiest to use the side of a wide-bladed knife to smash the olive on a cutting board. Smashing splits the fruit open and exposes the pit, which can then easily be removed and discarded. While pitting olives is a bit of work, I actually prefer starting with olives that still have their pits, as I find the flavor is more intense than their pitted brethren.
AlertTrade Always enjoy baking olive bread.