Braiding is a fancy way to present stuffed bread. To get this recipe started, I prepared the dough and let it rest for a few hours. Once it’s ready to roll, the sides of the resulting long rectangle are cut into long strands, filled with tapenade (or your favorite filling) then the bread is tied into a two-strand braid.
I used homemade tapenade made with kalamata olives, mustard and capers. I love the way the deep-purple color contrasts with the bread. The bread would also work well with hummus, guacamole, salsa or roasted bell pepper spread.
1. Info for Braided Tapenade Bread Recipe
- Cook Time: 1 hr 40 mins
- Total Time: 2 hr 30 mins
- Servings: 12
- Calories: 250 kcal
2. Ingredients for Braided Tapenade Bread Recipe
- 12 (8 x 10″) rectangles homemade dough (puff pastry, bread dough or pizza dough)
- ¾ cup Kalamata olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
- 1 lemon, freshly squeezed
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained
- 2 anchovy filets (optional), chopped
- 1 tablespoon sweet basil leaves, blanched and coarsely chopped
- ⅛ teaspoon salt, to taste
- 1 egg (optional)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
3. Directions:
- Prepping the dough: Using a pairing knife, cut 2½” long strands (about ½” thick) on each side of the dough (as pictured).
- Making tapenade filling: In a mini-food processor (or blender), combine the chopped olives, anchovies (if used), 2 teaspoons honey, capers, basil, garlic and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Pulse until smooth. Drizzle with 2 tablespoon olive oil. Pulse until the oil is well incorporated. Transfer to a bowl. Add basil. Season with black pepper. Stir well using a spatula. Check seasoning; depending on the saltiness of the anchovies, add more salt if necessary (I made 2 batches so there would be a vegetarian version).