Quick Olive Oil Bread

After making a vow to not buy store bought bread for a while, we were craving some carb-goodness to go with soup.  Bittman came to the rescue with this Quick Olive Oil Bread.  Dense, chewy, more like a big biscuit than bread, it was perfect with a chunky egg-noodle vegetable soup Phil made the other night and with a hard-boiled egg for breakfast the next morning.  This bread could definitely be gussied up with some fresh minced herbs, jalapenos or even some grated cheese.  Definitely an easy bread to make for Thanksgiving, although I have my heart set on making these.

Olive Oil and Salt Quick Bread
Adapted from Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything Vegetarian

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cups all purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt, preferably sea salt
• 1 cup of warm water

To Do:

1. Heat the oven to 375 and grease an oven proof dish or skillet – 8-9″ is probably best.
2. Put the flour, baking powder, and salt in a food processor. Turn on the machine and slowly add the olive oil and most of the water.
3. Process for 30 seconds. The dough should roll into a ball and barely sticky.  If it hasn’t come together yet, add remaining water a tablespoon at a time, processing for 5 seconds each time.  If you want to add herbs, cheese, whatever, to the dough, do it now.
4. Put the dough into the pan and flatten it until the dough fits to the edges.  Flip and press again. Cover tightly with foil and bake.
5. After 20 minutes, remove the foil and sprinkle the top with coarse seat salt and herbs (if you like). Bake for another 20 minutes. The top will be golden and it will spring back when touched.