Easy Olive Oil Sourdough Bread

Get ready to fall in love with Olive Oil Sourdough Bread! This beginner-friendly bread has a soft crust and the most amazing flavor!

Olive oil sourdough bread is our family’s new love affair!

By adding a little olive oil, this sourdough bread has a softer crust and so much flavor. The olive oil complements the typical sourdough flavor to produce a mellower bread with a beautifully even and moist crumb.

Even though this is a high-hydration dough, it is not difficult to make and is very beginner-friendly!

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The Ingredients

You only need 4 ingredients for this easy sourdough bread:

• Active Sourdough Starter: If you don’t have one yet, I encourage you to check out my super simple method to make your own starter from scratch.
• Olive Oil: I love using high-quality extra virgin cooking olive oil for my sourdough bread.
• Flour: I use whatever flour I have, mostly organic all-purpose flour.
• Salt: This is my favorite sea salt but whatever you have on hand will work.
• Warm Water: Not exactly an ingredient but I thought I would mention it. Using warm water will help your dough! 

Useful Tools and Equipment

• Stand mixer: People have been making and mixing bread doughs for millennia but a stand mixer makes that so much easier. 
• Digital Kitchen Scale: Weight measurements are so much more accurate than volume measurements and digital scales are very affordable if you don’t already own one. 
• Banneton: These proofing baskets are very useful with or without a cloth liner. However, you can use any bowl and line it with a kitchen towel or other cloth if you don’t own a banneton.
• Dutch Oven: I love using one of my cast iron Dutch ovens. With the lid on, they perfectly trap the steam to ensure a nice rise. 
• Bread Lame: While you can also use a sharp knife to score your bread, a bread lame uses a razor blade and is extremely sharp. 

You can learn more about my favorite sourdough baking tools in this post. 

Substitutions and Variations

This easy sourdough bread recipe is pretty flexible or the perfect launching pad for additional ingredients:

• Olives: You might like to add some chopped green olives or Kalamata olives for a nice savory bread.
• Yeast: With a good, active sourdough starter this bread will rise nicely. For extra assurance or if you have a young starter, you can add a pinch of commercial yeast.
• Flour: This bread recipe works perfectly with regular flour. However, you can use some portion of bread flour, rye flour, or whole wheat flour. 
• Roasted Garlic: Adding some roasted garlic pieces works really well in this recipe.

​How to Serve

I don’t think you need instructions on how to eat bread, do you?

However, we love eating this bread fresh out of the oven. Having to wait until it is cool enough is often difficult but so worth it!

• Butter and salt: This is all you need and you’ll think you have just gone to heaven. 
• Oil and vinegar: This olive sourdough bread is perfect when dipped into Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil and balsamic vinegar.
• Note: You can get McEvoy Ranch’s olive oil for 10% off with my code ANJA10!
• Toasted with olive oil: Drizzle a thick slice of this bread with some olive oil and toast it in the oven for the perfect taste!
• Bruschetta: This Mediterranean classic is easy to make with this olive oil bread (you might like to try this classic Italian bruschetta mix).
• Sandwiches: Since this bread has a tighter crumb and not a lot of big holes, it is perfect for sandwiches.
• Holiday Stuffing: In the rare event that you find yourself with leftovers, this bread makes the perfect base for a sourdough bread Thanksgiving stuffing.

Make Ahead of Time?

There are two ways you can prepare this bread ahead of time:

• You can make the dough and let it ferment in the refrigerator for a day or two or whenever you are ready to bake.
• Alternatively, you can bake the bread and either freeze it whole or cut it in half. I recommend placing it in plastic wrap while still slightly warm and freezing it right away. You can then crisp it up in a warm oven for 15-20 minutes. 

New To Sourdough? Check out My Super Simple Sourdough Course!

​Other Sourdough Recipes You Might Like

Easiest No-Knead Sourdough Bread Ever

Rustic Rye Sourdough Bread

Make Your Own Sourdough Starter: No Measuring, No Discards, No Feeding

No Discard Way to Maintain Your Sourdough Starter

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