No-knead bread with olives and feta

No-knead bread with olives and feta

No knead bread with olives and feta – great Greek flavours in an amazing loaf

As we mentioned when we first introduced Our Kouppes, many of the recipes we will feature here are heavily influenced by our parents and Greek cuisine…but not all of them.  This particular no-knead bread with olives and feta for example, although heavy with Mediterranean elements like Kalamata olives, feta, and oregano has very little to do with our parents.  In fact, this bread is brought to you because of a man hero named Jim Lahey.

No-knead bread with olives and feta

We don’t really remember how or when we first heard about Jim Lahey; we think that Oprah Winfrey may have been involved.  Maybe she had him on her show, or maybe his book My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method was featured as one of her Books of the Month (probably not…but maybe).  Or perhaps we learned about Jim Lahey some other way and we were simply watching Oprah the first time we ate this no-knead bread, likely an entire loaf during one episode.  In recent years it seems that there has been a surge of no-knead bread bakers; we believe that many of them have been inspired by Jim.

No matter how this bread making technique came into our lives, we are grateful.  Using the recipes in Jim Lahey’s book we have impressed friends, wowed family, and consumed a lot of carbs.  Each recipe has turned out beautifully, and with ease.  Many loaves later, as we gained confidence in our bread making, we began experimenting with flavours, while keeping to the basic principles set out in our dog-eared copy of the book.  Here we share one of our favourite creations, a Greek-style, no-knead bread with olives and feta that we think Mr. Lahey would be proud of.

IMG_2978
IMG_2982

Helpful hints

The most important ingredient in this recipe, and any no-knead bread, is time.  Your dough will rise for a minimum of 14 hours, which means that this no-knead bread with olives and feta is not something you can whip together on a whim – unless your whim is to have bread the next day, in which case, that is fine.

What kind of pot do you need to bake a no-knead bread?

Along with time, you will need a heavy duty pot with a fitted lid.  We have made this bread using an enamelled cast iron pot as well as a glazed ceramic one.  Unfortunately, despite being of good quality and costing a pretty penny, the latter got damaged.  Although the pot is still very usable, it is far less pretty than it used to be.  The glaze didn’t seem to withstand the high heat as well as our enamelled cast iron pot does.

No-knead bread with olives and feta
No-knead bread with olives and feta

Speaking of pots, you want to select a pot which is neither too large nor too small.  In fact, if you have a pot which is about the same size as the bowl you have used to allow your dough to rise in, that is ideal.  If your pot is too big, your dough will spread out and your bread will be a little flatter than it needs to be.

We like to line the pot with parchment paper when making this particular bread.  This makes clean-up easy and melted cheese less of a problem.

Pin this recipe if you like it!

No-knead bread with olives and feta

What kind of flour is best for baking no-knead bread with olives and feta?

In Jim Lahey’s book My Bread, he suggests using bread flour for his recipes.  We used to do that, until one day when we had run out of bread flour and were feeling quite rebellious.  Instead of going bread-less, we opted to use all purpose flour (which incidentally, is usually less expensive than bread flour) to make one of his recipes.  The result…perfectly fine.  So, in the recipe which follows, if you want to use bread flour, go ahead.  If you prefer to dig into the 10 pound bag of all-purpose flour that you bought at Christmas to make koulourakia and melomakarona, go ahead.

Both the olives and feta tend to be a little wet; for this reason, in order to prevent somewhat soggy bread, it is helpful to pat both of these ingredients dry using paper towels before adding them to the flour.

When you remove the bread from the oven and place it on a cooling rack, take a listen.  As described by Lahey, you can hear the bread “singing”. It is really a glorious sound, a kind of crackling which occurs when steam escapes from the bread.  The sound of delicious things to come.

If you love carbs as much as we do, check these out:
Kouloures
No knead bread with halloumi, mint and orange
Pita bread

We love hearing from you!  If you have made our recipes, or if you have a question or comment, or simply want to say Hi!,  please leave a comment and star rating below! Also be sure to follow along with us, on FacebookInstagram and Pinterest.  We have lots of fun over there.

This post may contain some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.

No-knead bread with olives and feta

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

No-knead bread with olives and feta

No-knead bread with olives and feta

No knead bread with olives and feta - great Greek flavours in an amazing loaf.
5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Resting time: 14 hours
Servings: 1 loaf
Author: Mia Kouppa

Equipment

  • Cast iron pot

Ingredients

  • 3 cups (450 grams) bread flour or All-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano
  • 3/4 teaspoon instant dry yeast
  • 1 ½ cups (200 grams) pitted and sliced Kalamata olives, drained well
  • 1 ½ cups (225 grams) Greek feta, cut into small cubes
  • 1 ½ cups (375 mL) cool water

Instructions

  • In a medium sized bowl combine the flour, oregano and yeast.  Stir together.
    3 cups (450 grams) bread flour, 3/4 teaspoon instant dry yeast, 1 tbsp dried oregano
  • Pat the olives and feta dry using paper towels.  Add the olives and feta to the bowl with the flour and stir until they are both well coated with flour.
    1 ½ cups (200 grams) pitted and sliced Kalamata olives, drained well, 1 ½ cups (225 grams) Greek feta, cut into small cubes
  • Slowly pour in the water and mix well, either with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until there is not dry flour visible (it is well mixed).  Cover your bowl with plastic wrap, cover that with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rest in a draft-free place for at least 12 hours and up to 18 hours.
    1 ½ cups (375 mL) cool water
  • After the long resting period, take a similar sized bowl and coat it with a bit of vegetable oil.  Sprinkle some flour into the oiled bowl and shake the bowl around to distribute the flour as evenly as possible over the oil.  Then, simply transfer the dough (which should have risen quite a bit at this point) from the original bowl into this second bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and then a clean kitchen towel.
  • Allow to rise in a draft-free place for at least 2 hours.
  • Approximately 30 minutes before you will be baking your bread, preheat your oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place a covered cast iron or enamel pot (big enough to hold your bread dough) onto the middle rack and allow it to come to temperature for at least 30 minutes.
  • Carefully remove the pot from the oven, remove the lid, and place a piece of parchment paper along the bottom of the pot and coming up the sides. Transfer the dough into the pot and onto this parchment paper.  
  • Replace cover, and place pot onto the middle rack of your oven.  Bake, covered, for 30 minutes.
  • After 30 minutes, remove the lid and continue to bake the bread for 15 – 20 minutes.  Remove pot from oven and using heat proof mitts or gloves, remove the bread from the pot.  
  • Allow it to cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting into it.
  • Enjoy!

Thanks for sharing!

22 Comments

  1. Joanne Jamis Cain says:

    Looks delicious!

    1. miakouppa says:

      Thank you Joanne. We hope you give it a try! It’s really yummy….and so easy! 🙂

    2. My dough is currently in the oven. Looks delicious. Can’t wait to enjoy it with dinner tonight (if it lasts that long).

      1. miakouppa says:

        Oh yeah!! We hope that you love the bread Maria! And we agree…sometimes it’s hard to hold out until supper! 🙂 Helen & Billie

  2. a little Swiss, a little Canadian says:

    Looks really yummy❣

    1. miakouppa says:

      Thank you!! We love all kinds of bread (unfortunately 🙂 ), but this particular one may be in the top 5! Hope you give it a try one day. 🙂 🙂

      1. Dana Taylor says:

        How many quarts was the enameled cast iron pan you used for this recipe?
        2 1/2 or 41/2??5 stars

      2. miakouppa says:

        Hi Dana,
        Sorry for the late reply. We used a 4 1/2 quart pot. Enjoy! xox Helen & Billie

  3. What size is your pot? I’m scared to try this method as care instructions for cast iron pot says they need to be heated with oil or fat in them. I’ve already ruined one really expensive French pot.

    1. miakouppa says:

      Kylee!! We’re so sorry for the delay in responding to you. This is one of the downfalls of being 2; sometimes we think the other has followed up on something only to realize that neither one of us has! In any case, the pot we use is an enameled cast iron and we don’t add oil to it. It looks just as good as when we first bought it. As for the size, we use a regular sized soup pot; the kind you might use for a family of 4 – 6. The size does not matter that much however, so long as you can imagine your bread dough fitting into it. Hope that helps, and please let us know if you need further information.

  4. Linda Apostolou Straczynski says:

    Hi Kylee, checked out this delicious recipe.. I bake breads a lot and thought I’d share my tip. I make this same recipe with and without olives/feta. The easier and faster way I have found is your recipe above, except I use 1 pkg fast rise yeast, and the water temp is 120-130 degrees. Same directions but after mixing everything by hand, I put in bowl and cover with Saran Wrap for 1 hour. I preheat oven 475 with covered cast iron. Then drop dough on floured surface. All you do is fold over itself about 12 times. Then put in parchment paper lined bowl, covered with a towel for 15 minutes.. add the dough with parchment paper into preheated cast iron or enameled covered pot. Bake 30 minutes, then remove parchment paper and cover. To brown more or less 6-10 minutes until golden. I’m sure you will like this faster no knead bread.

  5. Hazel Jackson says:

    I am inspired to try this tonight.

    1. miakouppa says:

      Excellent!! Hope that you love it 🙂

  6. Was wonder about the yeast. I am not a bread baker, but the package of yeast I have said it needs to be mixed with warm water not cool. I’m worried my yeast won’t activate. What is your opinion. Thanks. 🙂 I am using “active dry yeast”

    1. miakouppa says:

      Hi Wendy,
      Sorry for taking so long to respond to you! You are fine to use either cool or warm water in this recipe (but not hot)! Keep in mind that this dough stays out for several hours allowing the yeast time to proof and therefore even if you start off with warm water, it will come to room temperature soon enough.

  7. I’m not really a bread maker but I made this recipe yesterday, it was very easy and delicious. The directions were very easy to follow.
    Everyone in the family loved it! Thank you!

    1. miakouppa says:

      That is so wonderful to hear Athena!! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment – we really do appreciate it. Glad you enjoyed the bread 🙂 xoxo

  8. Hello, my son has a gluten allergy. Do you think this recipe would work with gluten free flour?

    1. miakouppa says:

      Hi Cary! We actually have not tried this bread with gluten free flour however we did receive a message from someone saying that they had tried it – and it worked out just fine! Good luck! Hope it works out for you as well. xoxo Helen & Billie

  9. L Sideris says:

    Which is it? 3 cups all purpose weighs 375 grams and 3 cups bread flour 471 grams. They are not really interchangeable. I will be making this and I guess I will try 450 grams bread flour and go from there. Thank you for posting it looks delicious!

    1. miakouppa says:

      Well this is confusing! We weigh the flour for this recipe, and have used both all-purpose regular flour, and bread flour – regardless of the flour, we use 450 grams of it. Works out well both ways! We’ll review the recipe and may simply remove the 3 cup measurement if it seems confusing. Enjoy the recipe! We hope you love it 🙂 xoxo Helen & Billie

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating