There are two things members of our patchwork family have in common - we love good food and we hate olives! Even the pickiest of our kids, Valerie, producer of the famous "square mouth" whenever I made her try at least one bite before she said she didn't like it; and Francesca who ordered "just white rice" when we ate at a restaurant, ended up as foodies. Valerie even became a chef!
The Andersons and their offspring pick olives off pizzas, and leave them untouched in the salad bowl. They don't order tapenade and don't drink martinis. But then something strange happened...
Knowing that a lot of people are olive fans and crave them in all kinds of foods, I looked for an olive bread recipe to satisfy those die-hards. I found one in my favorite "Brot aus Suedtirol" and decided to give it a try, tweaking it a bit (using pate fermentee and overnight refrigeration).
I had a long struggle forcing slippery olives into the dough (maybe they sensed my negative vibes). My first batch of "Pane di Olive" looked like misshapen scones, with dark bruises (from my abuse?), but they didn't smell bad. With some apprehension and no great expectation I bit in an olive laden roll. Took another unbelieving bite and was deeply shocked - the olive bread tasted good, really good, incredibly good!
I gave one to Richard, the most willing guinea pig of all husbands, who eyed it with distrust. "You should probably call that 'Malfatti' (= badly made) he suggested, but then obediently tried the olive roll. In no time it was gone!
