Olive Oil Bread Swirls

Posted by whilehewasout on October 26, 2012 · 6 Comments

Remember these beautiful milky bread swirls? My Mr asked for this bread the other day, but we did not have butter at home. As we were lazy enough to go to the store but creative enough to start looking for a solution for this problem, I ended up at ThePassionateOlive .com. My dear readers let me tell you, I found the solution to our problem 🙂 Take a good, working recipe, make a couple of little changes, enjoy a healthier and great outcome!

Olive Oil Bread Swirls

Ingredients:

200 ml water
3/4 tbsp honey
1 pack instant yeast

100 ml milk
1 tbsp salt
1 egg
500 g flour
apx. 40ml olive oil (I used extra virgin, quite strong taste, did not alter the final taste of the breads in a negative way)

+1 egg for brushing
sesame seeds for sprinkling

Preparation:

A. Mix the water, honey and yeast. Wait for the yeast to rise (around 15-20 minutes should do)
B. Mix the olive oil, egg and salt
C. Mix A. and B., add the flour and milk, and bring it together to form a nice smooth dough
D. Let the dough rise in a warm place (1/2-1h, depending on time at hand:))
E. Flat out the dough to a square (around 2-3cm or 1 inch thick), cut strings (4-5cm or around 2 inches thick), roll them up as a snail and place them on their side on a baking sheet lined baking tray (okay this sounds complicated but it really isn’t. Also you can make any other shapes!)
F. Spread the egg on top of the snails, sprinkle them with sesame (or any) seeds if you wish, and let them rise around 30 minutes more.
G. Put them in pre-heated oven and bake them while golden brown at 190°C/370°F.

Baking with Olive Oil Instead of Butter by ThePassionateOlive.com

“Using olive oil for baking is a familiar feature of Mediterranean cooking. While it may sound a bit odd, baking with olive oil has actually been done for centuries. Olive oil gives cakes and cookies a light texture and can be used with confidence in lieu of butter or other oils. It is best to use a lower intensity, late harvest extra-virgin olive oil when baking which gives a subtle flavor. The dominant taste of high intensity olive oils may interfere with the end result taste.

Olive oil dramatically cuts back on the cholesterol and saturated fat content of desserts. It produces lighter-tasting baked goods and allows the flavor of the other ingredients to come forth. Because olive oil contains vitamin E, it helps to naturally maintain the freshness of baked goods and creates moist cakes, biscuits and muffins.

You can also use olive oil for preparing a baking pan before adding the dough or other mixture. Simply brush the oil onto your favorite baking pan, cookie sheet, spring-form pan or other type of baking dishes or pans.

To help you in determine how to substitute olive oil in baking or other cooking recipes, use the chart to convert the quantity of butter called for in a recipe to the required quantity of olive oil. This conversion chart is more for baking recipes where quantities are critical. Just note, you cannot convert all recipes, for example cake frosting, where the item must stay solid at room temperature.”

Butter/Margarine	Olive Oil
1 teaspoon	3/4 teaspoon
1 tablespoon	2 1/4 teaspoons
1/4 cup	3 tablespoons
1/3 cup	1/4 cup
1/2 cup	1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
2/3 cup	1/2 cup
3/4 cup	1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon
1 cup	3/4 cup

P.S.: Replacing the sugar with honey and the butter with olive oil in my opinion only made this recipe even better! The breads also stayed fresh for the day after, thanks to the olive oil. Could you tell the difference? : )