Yesterday I sliced into the very last piece of my sourdough loaf – the one I usually order from the village panadería a few days ahead. Naturally, I hadn't ordered another. So instead of waiting, I decided to make a rustic olive oil bread recipe using what I already had in the Casa Adora kitchen. This process is baking bread in Spain in its most honest form: improvising with local ingredients, good olive oil, and whatever flour is in the cupboard.
A quick rummage turned up strong white flour, integral wholemeal, and cornflour — harina de maíz or maicena as it's known here in Andalucía. And then there was the olive oil. Earlier in the week I'd walked down to Montetucci, our local olive mill, and watched Amador pour five litres of aceite verde straight from a huge stainless-steel tank into my bottle. This is cosecha temprana extra virgin olive oil — pressed from the very first olives usually picked in October and early November. Harvested while still green, these olives produce a vivid, grassy, high-polyphenol oil with a peppery bite. With that sitting on the counter, the loaf practically wrote itself.
With the KitchenAid humming, the banneton dusted, and the Le Creuset heating up, this rustic olive oil bread recipe came together in an afternoon.
Why This Rustic Olive Oil Bread Recipe Works
The 60/30/10 mix of strong white, wholemeal, and cornflour gives you structure, flavour, and tenderness. The early-harvest olive oil adds depth and colour, while Maldon flakes bring a bright, crunchy finish. Simple ingredients, a hot pan, and a little patience — that's all it takes.
Rustic Olive Oil Bread — Ingredients
- 300g strong white flour
- 150g integral (wholemeal) flour
- 50g cornflour (harina de maíz / maicena)
- 7g dried yeast (one sachet)
- 10g fine sea salt
- 330–360g filtered water
- 40g early-harvest extra virgin olive oil (aceite verde)
- Maldon sea salt flakes for finishing
How to Make Rustic Olive Oil Bread — The Method
- Mix the flours, fine sea salt, and yeast in the KitchenAid bowl. Add the filtered water and aceite verde. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes until the dough comes together, then increase to medium and knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic. The wholemeal and cornflour make it slightly softer and more tender than a standard white loaf – that's exactly what you want.
- Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and leave to prove in a warm place for 1–1½ hours until doubled in size.
- Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, shape gently into a ball, and place seam-side up in a well-floured banneton. Cover and leave for a second prove of 45–60 minutes.
- Meanwhile preheat the oven to 250°C with the Le Creuset or Lodge cast iron casserole, lid on, inside for at least 30 minutes — it needs to be properly hot before the dough goes in.
- Brush the top of the dough lightly with aceite verde and sprinkle generously with Maldon flakes.
- Carefully lower the dough into the hot casserole. Cover with the lid and bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven to 220°C, remove the lid, and bake for a further 20–25 minutes until deeply golden.
- Turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool for at least 45 minutes before slicing. The temptation to cut in early is real. Resist it — mostly.
A Few Notes from the Casa Adora Kitchen
The pan: I've had my Le Creuset since 1995 — it moved to Casa Adora with me in 2012 and shows no signs of retirement. A Lodge cast iron casserole does exactly the same job for considerably less money and is the go-to for many American bakers. Any heavy lidded casserole that can handle 250°C will work.
The olive oil: Montetucci is our local olive mill in Monte Lope Álvarez. Aceite verde – early-harvest extra virgin olive oil – is pressed from green olives in October and November and has a vivid, grassy flavour with a peppery finish. If you can't find early-harvest oil, any good quality extra virgin will do, though you'll lose some of the character.
The cornflour: Fine cornflour — harina de maíz or maicena in Spain — not polenta, and not the white cornflour used for thickening sauces. It gives the crumb a slight softness and sweetness that wheat alone doesn't produce.
The result: A golden, rustic loaf with a soft, slightly sweet crumb, deeper flavour from the wholemeal, and a silky richness from the Montetucci oil. The Maldon flakes stayed crisp and bright, giving each slice a little sparkle of salinity. I let it cool just long enough to behave – about 45 minutes – then sliced it warm and spread it thick with butter from Asturias. No regrets.
This rustic olive oil bread recipe is part of my Bread Recipes, a collection of loaves, flatbreads and bakes from the Casa Adora kitchen and on the road.
Find more recipes and food adventures here.
Wonky photos, proper bread, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef
