This is a great, lightly sweet, soft bread with a nice depth of flavor from the whole wheat or rye flour. The plaiting also looks very impressive even if it is only two or three strands. I’m sure you could do more strands and get crazy with it but the original recipe works well with two and I just upped it to three. I used both the original recipe and the updated recipe for snacking and for sandwiches (makes a great grilled cheese).

The original recipe is straightforward and works with no adjustments but I wanted to make the new one a little fun and incorporate some more Greek flavors. Also I’m in the process of trying to get my husband to like olives so a good way to start that process is to chop them up and hide them in bread. Baby steps. I think you could also make a nice bread by substituting maple syrup for the honey and adding some chopped nuts instead of garlic and olives.

Recipe makes one round 10″ loaf or two regular bread tin loaves.

Ingredients

6 heads of garlic

1/4 cup chopped olives (any kind)

1 tablespoon (21 g) honey

Olive oil

2 1/4 teaspoon active yeast

1/4 cup (59 g) very warm water

1 teaspoon (7 g) honey

1 cup (242 g) buttermilk

1 cup (236 g)water

1 tablespoon (13 g) olive oil

2 tablespoons (42 g) honey

2 teaspoons (12 g) salt

2 cups (204 g)rye flour

3 1/2 (420 g) to 4 cups (480 g) all purpose flour

1 egg

1/4 cup (59 g)water

3 tablespoons sesame seeds

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Cut heads in half horizontally and put on a sheet pan or aluminum foil cut side up. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Brush with honey and roast for another 10-15 minutes. Let cool, squeeze out of husks and roughly chop before mixing with olives.

• Stir together yeast, warm water and 1 teaspoon honey. Let stand until bubbly, about 10 minutes.
• Heat buttermilk to lukewarm wither over low heat on the stovetop or by microwaving for 30-45 seconds. In a large bowl combine yeast mixture, milk, olive oil, remaining honey and salt.
• Add rye flour and beat vigorously for about two minutes until smooth. Stir in enough all purpose flour to make a soft dough that comes away from the bowl.
• Knead on a floured surface for about 10 minutes. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rise until doubled (about one hour at 70 degrees Fahrenheit).
• Deflate dough and turn out onto a floured surface. Sprinkle 1/3 of the olive garlic mix on the dough, fold, sprinkle next 1/3, fold, sprinkle final 1/3 and fold. Knead a few times until smooth and let dough rest for 5 minutes.

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• Based on the kind of plait you want to make, divide the dough and roll the pieces into strips before braiding. For two loaf pans make 6 strips for two plaits, for one round pan make 3 strips for one plait. Braid tightly without leaving any gaps and squeeze the ends of the plait(s) to smush them together (technical term).
• If you are using a loaf pan tuck the ends of each braid underneath, in a round pan wrap the dough in a spiral and tuck the end underneath.
• Beat egg with water and brush over the top of the bread. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and let rise until doubled, about an hour. Towards end of proof preheat oven to 375.

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• Bake at 375 for 40 to 50 minutes until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped, or the internal temperature is 190.