This is a recipe along the same lines as my garlic bread recipe. I've had olive bread a few times in restaurants, but it has been made with the olives baked into the bread. It has generally been very good but I thought I would try a version that didn't involve mixing up yeast, kneading dough and all that kind of stuff.
The good thing about this recipe is that you can prepare a lot of loaves and keep them in the freezer. It only takes about fifteen minutes to heat from frozen.
Ingredients
1 large baton type loaf of bread (or several small ones)
About 200g of pitted black olives.
A sprig each of fresh mint and fresh thyme (or a large pinch of dried)
A third of a teaspoon of coriander seeds
A clove of garlic
A large splash of olive oil
Chop the olives, garlic and herbs and mix together. Add the coriander seeds and give the mixture a good pounding with a pestle and mortar if you have one. If not, crush the seeds between two spoons and add them to the mixture. Stir in the olive oil.
If using a large loaf, cut it into pieces small enough to go in the oven. Make a cut in the top of a loaf along the full length. Cut to a depth of about two thirds of the way through the loaf. Pack some olive mixture into the cut and wrap the loaf in aluminium foil. The wrapped olive bread can be heated immediately, stored in the fridge overnight, or it can be kept in the freezer for weeks. When needed, heat in a very hot oven for about ten minutes (unfrozen) or fifteen minutes (frozen).