What’s cooking today: Rosemary and olive braai bread

Olives and rosemary are a natural match and, with the addition of a hint of garlic, make for a delicious loaf of bread cooked in a cast-iron pot surrounded by hot coals.

You need to have a fire going, not too near to the pot, to be sure to have a continuous supply of coals while it cooks. It takes about an hour to be ready to eat.

(Makes 1 large loaf)

Ingredients

1 kg white bread wheat flour

10 g instant yeast

4 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 cups lukewarm water and a little more if necessary

2 Tbsp olive oil

½ a cup black olives, chopped

2 Tbsp finely chopped rosemary needles

2 tsp crushed dried garlic

Olive oil for the pot

Method

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast and sugar and stir well with a wooden spoon. Only stir in the salt after this so that it does not neutralise the yeast. 

Add lukewarm water a little at a time, while kneading the dough, until it is all combined. Now add the 2 Tbsp olive oil and continue kneading until it is a nice plump ball of dough and no longer sticky. Add the olives (destone and chop them into little pieces first), the chopped rosemary needles and the dried garlic to the dough in the bowl and knead again for a few minutes, turning and push-pulling with your hands/fists, until all the bits of olive and rosemary are evenly distributed.

Leave the ball of dough in the bowl, cover with a slightly damp tea towel, and put it in a warm spot outside for 20 minutes, or inside if the weather is not playing ball. The Foodie’s Wife, who has occasional flashes of kitchen genius, taught me the trick of turning on the oven till it is a little warm, then turning it off and putting the dough in there to rise.

Check that you have braai coals. Oil the inside of your heavy-bottomed pot well. Carefully ease the dough into it; you may need to use a silicone spatula to scrape the edges downwards. Put the lid on the braai pot.

Place in the braai and immediately place hot coals all around the base, and a few more on top. Keep replenishing the coals at the base and on the lid for a full hour. Remove the lid, and it should turn out perfectly. DM

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.