Pane Bianco with Kalamata Olives

Nov 16

Nov 16 Pane Bianco with Kalamata Olives

Showstoppers don’t always need to be desserts. I can see this bread as a stunning, savory centerpiece for a holiday meal, just tweak the flavors to compliment your entree. But I’m getting ahead of myself. This gorgeous filled loaf is a soft, enriched dough filled with Italian cheeses, sundried tomatoes and herbs. The shaping of it is similar to making a babka but much simpler - no braiding! You’ll pat out the dough into a rectangle, top it with the fillings, roll it into a log, make a slit in the top then drag the edges around into an S shape. Not hard at all! The trickiest part is probably getting the long log off of the counter and onto the baking pan. But obviously it’s doable if I did it, right? Okay, back to the customizing idea, I think for Thanksgiving you could try gruyere cheese and sautéed leeks, with rosemary and thyme, for Christmas, maybe some goat cheese with dried cranberries, you get the idea. Just be sure to keep the quantities the same and don’t overfill it!

The recipe is by King Arthur Baking, and is easy to follow with an accompanying article complete with visuals. The reviewers almost all said to add more salt, which made me nervous…how much more? So instead, I added some kalamata olives to the filling and sprinkled 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese across the top just before it went into the oven. Bold, slaty flavors without the risk of adding more salt to the dough. Win win!

Love these flavors? Check out this Braided Italian Cheese Bread

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying U.S. purchases made through this site.

Pane Bianco Recipe:

By King Arthur Baking: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/pane-bianco-recipe

Yield:
1 large loaf, approximately 15-inches

Difficulty:
Moderate

How I made it

For the dough, I followed the KAB instructions exactly, weighing all of my ingredients per their instructions. I suggest doing the same!

Here’s my tweaked filling that I described above:

¾ cup shredded mozzarella
4 garlic cloves, finely diced
¼ cup oil-packed sundried tomatoes, patted dry and diced
¼ cup greek olives, pitted and diced
1 large scallion, thinly sliced, just the green parts

Topping:

2 TBSP grated parmesan cheese
1 TBSP dried oregano

The bread is lovely on it’s own, fantastic with a cup of tomato soup or pasta marinara, and I think would make some amazing croutons if you have any left over. Speaking of, because it’s an enriched dough, it lasts quite a while wrapped in a plastic bag at room temperature.

Let me know if you try it!