Italian beer bread

MAKES 1 LOAF

1 tablespoon olive oil

a good of pinch of sugar

350 ml (12 fl oz) pilsner, heated to lukewarm

3 teaspoons dried yeast

650 g (1 lb 7 oz/4¹/₃ cups) plain (all-purpose) bread flour or ‘00’ flour, plus extra, for flouring

1 teaspoon sea salt

60 g (2¼ oz/¹/₃ cup) pitted kalamata olives, roughly chopped

50 g (1¾ oz/¹/₃ cup) sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

40 g (1½ oz/¹/₃ cup) diced pecorino cheese (cut into 1 cm/½ inch cubes)

2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

60 g (2¼ oz) piece of salami, pepperoni, sopressata or even capicola, cut into 1 cm (½ inch) cubes

Put the olive oil and sugar in a jug with the warm beer, then add the yeast. Give it a stir and let it sit for 10–15 minutes while the yeast gets itself going. It should develop a nice foamy head.

Put the flour in a large bowl and mix the salt through. Slowly add the yeast mixture and mix – either with your hands on a work surface, or in a mixer with a dough hook – until you get a ball of dough. If you need to add a little more liquid, add some warm water (or beer if you haven’t already drunk the rest), to the jug that had the yeast in it. Swirl it around to pick up any leftover yeast and use that.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and give it a good kneading for 10 minutes, or until you feel the consistency and texture change to a more smooth and silken feel.

Spray a large glass bowl with olive oil spray, then sprinkle flour inside so it sticks to the oil – this stops the dough sticking to the bowl while it rises. Put the dough in the bowl. Spray one side of a large sheet of plastic wrap with more oil and dust with flour. Cover the bowl with the plastic, sprayed side down. Put the bowl in a warm place and leave to rise until the dough has doubled in size, anything up to 3 hours.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Knock it back with your fist to knock the air out of it and deflate it, then flatten it. Sprinkle the rest of the ingredients on top, then give it a good kneading, making sure to evenly distribute the olives, tomatoes, cheese, rosemary and salami throughout the dough. Shape the dough into a rustic-looking loaf or ball (or put it into an oiled baking tin), place on a lightly oiled baking tray and let it prove again, until doubled in size – the second rising of the dough should take about half as long as the initial rising, say an hour or two.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Put the dough in the oven and bake for 35–45 minutes, or until done. You can tell when it is cooked by flicking the bottom of the loaf with your finger: if it sounds hollow, it is cooked.

Beer Notes

Keeping with the Italian theme, I used Peroni Nastro Azzurro. Note that you’ll need to buy two bottles of beer for this recipe, to get the right ratio of liquid to flour, but you will use only a small amount of the second bottle for the bread – so drink the rest instead!