Olive damper

Nothing quite beats that satisfied feeling you get when mates tuck in happily to something that you've made yourself, especially if it's been easy to do – and it doesn't get much simpler than this delicious damper bread.

Credit: Myles New / Lorraine's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food

• serves

  8

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  35 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 450 g (1 lb) self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
• 3 sprigs rosemary, leaves only, roughly chopped
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 75 g (3oz) pitted green or black olives, roughly chopped
• fruity olive oil and balsamic vinegar, to serve, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6) and put a baking tray in to warm up.
2. Put the flour in a large bowl, with the rosemary, salt, oil and 225 ml (8 fl oz) water. Mix everything well until the dough starts to come together in a ball. Then get your hands in and squidge all the dry bits in, using the bread like a cloth to gather the bits all up.
3. Dust a clean board or work surface with a little flour and place the dough down. Squish it into a flattish round, put the olives in the centre and squash them down a bit, bringing the edges of the dough towards the centre, so that the olives are covered. Then flip the dough over and knead the olives in.
4. At this point, the dough may be quite wet with olives flying all over the shop, but just keep pushing the rogue olives back into the dough. If everything is too wet, just add a small handful of flour to dough. Shape it into a 20 cm (8 in) round and place on the warmed baking tray.
5. Rub a little flour onto the handle of a wooden spoon. Then, holding the handle horizontal to the bread, press down onto the loaf making an indent almost to the bottom of the tray.
6. Turn handle so that it is at a 90-degree angle to the first line and push down again to make a cross. Do this two more times so your bread looks like a kind of clock face of eight triangular portions.
7. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. This is wonderful served warm with some fruity olive oil and balsamic.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.