This is a tribute to Ivan, my twinkly eyed, wild white curly-haired godfather. He would delight me on many a birthday by baking a fresh loaf of ‘elioti’, the beautifully rustic olive bread he learned to make while living in Greece. Golden & crisp on the outside, while slick & moist with olives & onions inside, I used to savour the oily saltiness with great relish. I set out to create a gluten free version & I’m delighted to share the result. Flour-wise, I’ve used a holy trinity of sorghum, chickpea & tapioca – and since I’m a total olive addict, I’ve increased the number that Ivan uses. Also, instead of loading the inside of the loaf with olives, I’ve spread the mixture throughout the dough, giving a burst of salty goodness in every bite.
Ivan is now in his nineties and he still whips up the occasional loaf for lucky guests. I’m looking forward to sharing my creation with him.
1 tsp (coconut) sugar
1 tsp active yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
½ cup rice milk or milk of choice
1 cup sorghum flour
½ cup tapioca starch
¼ cup chickpea flour
2 Tbsp psyllium husk
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (I used red)
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup good flavoursome black olives, sliced
couple of pinches of freshly chopped rosemary (optional)
Start by getting the yeast ready: in a mixing bowl, dissolve the sugar in the warm water, then sprinkle the yeast on top. Set it aside for at least 10 minutes to ‘bloom’.
Add the vinegar to the milk of choice & set aside too.
Once the yeast has swelled up on the surface of the sweetened water, add all the dry ingredients, plus 2 tsp salt. Mix well, making sure to ease out any lumps in the chickpea flour or tapioca. Add the vinegar milk and mix again. Yes, it’s meant to look wet – this isn’t the kind of yeasty loaf that you knead. Put the dough aside for 30 minutes, to coalesce even further while you prepare the olive mixture.
Heat the oil in a frypan, cook the onions & garlic until softened but not burnt. Stir through the olives & optional rosemary, turn off the heat.
If you’re planning to cook the loaf now, get the oven preheated to 200C and lightly grease a patch for the loaf to bake on a baking tray.
Once the dough has sat for a while, it’s time to add the olive-y onion-y mixture. Two options: use your clean hands to stuff & load the olive mix into the centre of the dough, wrapping it up so the olives are encased. Or – my preference – simply mix the olives through the dough, so every future bite will give you a salty prize (there’s a photo of the alternative filling method at the bottom of this page)
Pop the loaded-up dough onto the baking tray, using your hands to sculpt it into more of a loaf shape if need be.
Bake at 200C for 30-35 minutes. Cool on a rack – or even better, dive in while its warm!
Here’s a quick picture of how the elioti can look if you wrap up the olive/onion in the interior of the loaf, rather than distributing the mixture throughout. It’s still good – I think it’s the more traditional way – but I find the filling falls out more easily, to be honest!
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