Rolling Olives & Oil Into Finished Dough

In this video you will see how to incorporate oil and other additives to a dough that has recently been made. There is the technique where all actions are confined to a plastic tub, and open on the bench there is detailed photography of the rolling action.

The dough

It is not a matured dough. It has been made very recently, and the incorporation of oil and chopped olives to it are always done right at the end of the kneading process. This is the same for all additives – add them gently after the kneading is complete.

Inside a tub

Manipulating the dough by constantly rolling it up inside a tub is convenient, involves minimum mess, and leads to a good result – a dough that is strong and springy, feeling bulky and lively with well developed gluten that has been enhanced by the late addition of oil which actually lubricates gluten strands.

Focaccia too

It is my recommended method for making focaccia, where you will roll both water and oil into a piece of finished bread dough.

The action

Described as “rolling it up like a Swiss roll”, this method is both thorough and gentle. It is necessary to be gentle because harsh treatment will sever or shred gluten strands that you have carefully developed by proper kneading.  There is constant repetition of rolling it up towards you, then turning it over so that the ragged seam is upward and ready to be rolled into the body, plus a 90 degree turn that ensures it is rolled in a different direction from the previous one.

The thumbs

There is a section of close-up photography out of the tub and on the bench where you see the pressure applied by the thumbs to control the necessary tightness that is needed to achieve a good roll-up. (In other videos you will see this thumb pressure as being necessary to achieve the required tightness).

Rests

Short rest periods are both necessary and normal. They allow the gluten to relax a little before the next rolling. Do something else for a couple of minutes to ensure a rest. When I make olive bread in the bakery there may be six periods of rolling it up, with five short rests between.