Puccia (Olive-studded Bread)

Ingredients:

1 heaped tsp dried yeast
80ml warm water
700 ml water at room temperature
230 ml Biga Pugliese
1.25 kg un-bleached plain flour
225g whole-wheat flour
1 tbsp salt
100g pitted black olives (Kalamata are excellent)

Method:

In the large bowl place the yeast and the warm water. Stir together and allow to prove for ten minutes. At this time add the remaining water and the biga Pugliese and mix until thoroughly blended. Add the whole-wheat flour and begin adding the plain flour until the mixture comes together as a soft and sticky dough (it should come together, but will not lift away from the sides of the bowl. Using very wet hands knead the dough until it becomes very silky, soft and elastic. Tip onto a floured board and knead until the stickiness has been eliminated.

At this point gently knead-in the olives by hand to ensure that they remain whole. Tip the dough into a well-oiled bowl, cover and set aside in a warm place. Leave until the dough has tripled in size (should take 3 to 4 hours).

Now pour the dough onto a floured work surface but do not knock the dough back. Instead, flour the top of the dough and using very wet hands (keep a bowl of water nearby) divide into 12 equal pieces. Once this is done flatten each piece and roll-up lengthways. Flatten again, turn through 90&00B0; and roll up again. This time you can shape each piece into a ball.

Set the rolls onto a floured baking tray. Sprinkle with a large amount of flour, cover and set aside for about 1.5h to raise. Bake in an oven pre-heated to 190&00B0;C for about 25–30 minutes until the rolls are golden and crusty.

Classic variations of these rolls are Puccia di Grano Duro where 1.5kg of durum wheat is substituted for the flours above. This variant requires extra kneading to make it silky (at least three more minutes). Puccia di Uva Passa uses raisins softened for 30 minutes in water or red wine instead of the olives.