Rosemary & Black Olive Damper

I enjoy a good slice of Focaccia bread, so when I stumbled over this recipe in Scones by Genevieve Knights, I thought it was worth a try. I did have to substitute canola oil for soya oil and minced garlic for garlic cloves, as I misread the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 head of garlic or 2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp canola oil
400 g all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
60 mls extra virgin olive oil
20 pitted and sliced calamata olives
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped
200-250 mls buttermilk
extra virgin olive oil for brushing

Instructions:
1. For toasting the garlic: Preheat the oven to 400F. Peel the garlic cloves and toss with the canola oil. Wrap the oiled garlic in foil so that the cloves are single file. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

2. For damper: Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Mix in the olive oil with a fork. Mash the garlic slightly and add with the sliced olives and rosemary, mixing a few times with the fork. Add the buttermilk and stir to combine. If the mix is too dry, then add a little bit more buttermilk.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop. Knead together until the dough is formed and smooth. Shape into a large, flat round about 20 cm across. Score 8 wedges about a half inch deep across the surface. Brush with extra olive oil and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Results:
I was actually a touch disappointed with these. They were incredibly salty, almost to the point of being inedible. Perhaps it was the olives I chose (Private Selection/Kroger brand unpitted calamata olives), or simply that additional salt was not needed. The recipe is worth trying again, but I would omit the added salt.