Olive Sourdough Bread with Thyme & Lemon

Olives are one of my favorite inclusions in sourdough bread, offering a buttery brininess and Mediterranean flavor in each bite. The olive sourdough bread pairs exceptionally well with aromatic thyme, or other herbs, and the bright lemon zest.

I like to make this loaf with a larger percentage of whole wheat to make an even heartier loaf and use a touch of olive oil to help soften up the crumb.

It’s a lovely, savory bread that I love serving with fresh herbed ricotta or with a drizzle of good olive oil.

My recipe walks through how to add the olives and other inclusions into your bread so they’re evenly distributed throughout the crumb. It also includes a sample baking schedule, baker’s percentage chart, and substitutions.

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👨‍🏫 Baker’s Percentage Chart

I include a baker’s percentage chart to scale a recipe up or down easily. With baker’s percentages, the total weight of all flour in the recipe is 100%.

I also include the prefermented flour from the levain in this flour weight. Finally, I note the ingredients proportionally to the total weight of flour (in this case, 430g, which includes 30g from the levain). That’s why the total percentages below will add up to over 100%.

If you want to learn more, the King Arthur website has a more detailed reference page on why and how baker’s percentages are calculated.

Ingredients	Weight	Baker’s Percentage
Bread Flour	350 grams (includes 30g for levain*)	81.4%
Whole Wheat Flour	80 grams	18.6%
Sea Salt	9 grams	2.1%
Water	347 grams (includes 30g for levain)	80.7%
Sourdough starter	30 grams (all for levain)	7%
Olive oil	12 grams	2.8%
Castelvetrano olives, pitted	80 grams	18.6%

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🛠 Tools Needed

View my Sourdough Tools and Equipment guide for a complete list of my favorite bread-baking tools.

• Dutch Oven
  • I love baking with my Challenger Bread Pan. It bakes excellent sourdough bread for a home baker and is heavy-duty cast iron.
  • For more dutch oven information, I list my recommendations with pros and cons here.
• Baking Scale
  • It’s important to measure your ingredients by weight instead of volume so you get a more consistent and accurate bake.
• Bread Lame
  • Can use a sharp razor blade or sharp knife.
• Bench Scraper
  • Assists with shaping and transferring your bread to your banneton or basket.
• Banneton Proofing Basket
  • I use this 10″ oval proofing banneton for baking batards (ovals) and a 9″ round banneton for boules (rounds).
  • A proofing basket will help keep your dough shaped while it proofs overnight and removes easily from the basket with a liner. If you don’t have one, line a mixing bowl with a floured tea towel.
• Optional: Brød and Taylor Folding Bread Proofer
  • This folding proofing box by Brød & Taylor is a game changer to keep your sourdough starter and doughs at the perfect temperature while proofing.
  • The proofer folds up easily, includes a humidity tray, is multifunctional, and can even be a slow cooker.
• Optional: Danish Dough Whisk
  • Mixing sourdough bread can be messy and sticky. I really like using a Danish dough whisk to help get the job done faster and with less mess. It’s an optional, but helpful tool.

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🛒 Ingredients Needed

See below for more information, variations, and possible substitutes.

• Bread Flour
  • I used King Arthur Bread Flour at 12.7% protein for recipe testing this bread. A high-gluten content flour works best for this loaf, but you can use all-purpose flour too.
• Whole Wheat Flour
  • Can substitute with another whole wheat flour such as spelt or einkorn flour. A small amount of rye flour pairs well with the olives, too.
• Sourdough Starter
  • Use active sourdough starter and not sourdough discard for this bread.
  • Don’t have a sourdough starter? Learn How to Make a Sourdough Starter and make a stronger sourdough starter with my top sourdough starter tips and why I maintain a small sourdough starter.
• Salt
• Water
• Olive Oil
  • I use extra virgin olive oil to help soften the crumb of this loaf and lend more olive flavor to the bread.
• Castelvetrano Olives
  • If think you don’t like olives, I highly recommend trying Castelvetrano Olives. They’re meaty, buttery, and even a bit sweet.
  • You can substitute with Kalamata or any other pitted olives you enjoy.
  • Before using, I strain and pat them dry with a paper towel so they don’t add extra liquid and brine to the dough.
• Lemon Zest
  • Lemon zest is always a welcome addition to brighten up baked goods and adds a ray of sunshine to this Mediterranean loaf.
• Fresh Thyme
  • Fresh herbs lend the most flavor to baked goods, and I enjoy using woodsy thyme to pair with the olives.
  • However, other woodsy herbs such as rosemary, tarragon, oregano, or marjoram would be excellent inclusions too.
  • If you use dried herbs, use half the amount since they’re more concentrated.

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⏰ Sample Baking Schedule

This is my typical baking schedule for most sourdough breads. This schedule works well for a weekend bake. However, many steps are flexible, depending on your own day-to-day schedule.

For example, you can make the levain the night before (use 10g of starter and 40g of flour and 40g of water). You can also proof the dough overnight in the refrigerator for up to a day to bake on your own time.

Steps	Time
1. Make the Levain	9:00am
2. Autolyse	1:00-2:00pm
3. Add Levain & Rest	2:00-2:30pm
4. Add Salt, Olive Oil, & Mix	2:30pm
5. Bulk Fermentation (Includes folds with inclusions)	2:30-7:30pm (about 5 hours after adding the levain)
6. Shape	7:30pm
7. Overnight Proof	7:30pm-9:00am (or up to a couple of days)
8. Score and Bake	Next Day, 9:00am

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🫒 How to Make Olive Sourdough Bread

Follow this visual and detailed guide to help you make the best olive sourdough bread recipe.

1. Make the Levain

Mix 30 grams of sourdough starter, 30 grams of bread flour, and 30 grams of water in an empty jar.

Cover and set it in a warm location (between 75-80ºF) for about 4-5 hours until it’s bubbly and ripe. The levain should at least double in size during this time.

2. Autolyse

About an hour before the levain is ready, mix the bread and whole wheat flours together in a bowl and pour in the warm water.

Use your hands or a Danish dough whisk to mix the flours and liquids. It’s okay if some scraggly bits of flour remain, but you want most of it to be hydrated.

Cover the bowl and set it aside to autolyse for an hour or so. The autolyse will reduce mixing time later by kickstarting gluten development.

3. Add the Levain

When the levain is bubbly and ripe, pour it on top of the dough.

Use your hands to dimple the levain into the dough. Then, stretch and fold the dough onto itself for a few minutes until you thoroughly incorporate the levain into the dough.

You’ll do more mixing later when you add in the salt and olive oil, but you want to make sure the levain is evenly distributed throughout the dough.

Cover the bowl and rest it in a warm location for 30 minutes.

4. Add Salt, Olive Oil, & Mix

After 30 minutes, sprinkle the salt onto the dough followed by the olive oil.

Begin mixing the dough. Stretch and fold the dough for about 5 minutes until it’s smoother and mostly holds its shape.

At first, the dough may appear wet and sticky, but the whole wheats will hydrate more and the gluten will make the dough stronger as you mix.

Cover the bowl and rest for 30 minutes.

5. Bulk Fermentation, Inclusions, and Folds:

After mixing in the salt, bulk fermentation will take about 5 hours at 78ºF.

If your dough and environment are colder, bulk fermentation will take longer. Conversely, in warmer conditions, the dough will ferment faster.

Fold in the Olives, Thyme, and Lemon Zest

30 minutes after adding the salt, fold in the olives, thyme leaves, and lemon zest into the dough.

For this loaf, I like to stretch and fold the inclusions in four folds.

Sprinkle about ¼ of the olives, ¼ of the lemon zest, and ¼ of the thyme leaves on top of the dough (step 1 in image below). Then, use a wet hand to life a portion of the dough, stretch (2), and fold it down upon itself (3&4).

Add another ¼ of the inclusions and repeat the stretch and folding process until all of the inclusions are added.

Cover and rest the dough for 45 minutes.

Perform at least three more sets of stretch and folds, separated by about 45 minutes each.

If the dough is still very slack or not holding its shape after the last fold, you may need to add a couple of more folds.

The dough rests for the remainder of time until shaping.

Bulk fermentation is complete with this dough doubles in size, feels full of air, is smoother, and there are some visible bubbles on top of and around the dough.

6. Shape:

Lightly flour your surface and banneton (rice flour is helpful to prevent sticking) and use a bench scraper to shape the dough into a boule (round) or batard (oval). Lift the dough and place it seam-side up into the banneton.

Try to shape the bread so that there aren’t any visible olives or inclusions on the outside of the loaf. If you need to, remove any on top or sneak them inside of the loaf when shaping.

7. Overnight Proof:

Cover the banneton and place it in a cold refrigerator overnight and up to 48 hours.

The overnight proof, or retard, will give additional flavor to the dough and slow down fermentation so you can bake it on your own schedule.

8. Score & Bake:

Place an empty Dutch oven inside the oven and preheat it at 500ºF (260ºC) for an hour.

After an hour, remove the cold dough from the refrigerator and turn it out onto a small piece of parchment paper.

Then, score the dough using a sharp bread lame.

I usually score with one long slash for a batard (oval). For a boule (round), score the dough with a cross pattern in the center of the dough or another design.

To help increase the chances of a sourdough ear, the score should be about ¼”-½” deep at a slight angle (although heavier inclusions such as olives can weigh down the loaf slightly). If interested, I often share scoring videos on my Instagram.

Carefully place the scored dough with parchment into the Dutch oven and immediately cover it with the lid.

Bake

I follow the same routine to bake most of my sourdough breads, such as My Everyday Sourdough Bread Recipe and adjust the final baking times slightly depending on how fast a loaf is browning.

Bake at 500ºF (260ºC) for 20 minutes.

Remove the lid, turn the oven down to 450ºF (232ºC), and bake with the lid off for about 15 minutes.

Cool the loaf on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing.

Finally, enjoy cutting into this hearty olive sourdough bread!

I love serving slices of the olive loaf with a drizzle of good olive oil. It also goes great with fresh ricotta, cultured butter, or other creamy cheeses.

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How to Store

I like to store sourdough bread cut-side down once sliced. This helps the loaf retain moisture so it doesn’t dry out and become stale.

To slice, cut the bread in half, turn it cut-side down, and then slice it with a sharp, serrated bread knife.

Then, wrap the loaf in a tea towel and place it in a bread bag, bread box, or brown paper bag, where it will stay fresh for about three days. After a few days, you may need to reheat or toast slices.

Unsliced, the olive bread will last another couple of days without staling or losing too much moisture due to the added olive oil.

Finally, you can freeze the olive sourdough bread by placing slices in a freezer-safe bag where it will keep for months. To thaw, reheat the frozen slices in a toaster oven, toaster, or oven.

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❓FAQs:

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