No-Knead Olive Artisan Bread

Last updated on November 28th, 2025

With a soft, airy crumb and a crispy crust, this No-Knead Olive Artisan Bread is made with briny, salty olives and deliciously seasoned with oregano. It’s super simple to make and pairs perfectly with rich, tomato-based pastas and hearty soups and stews!

Is there anything that feels more like home than the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven? I just love a good savoury loaf to accompany a weekend lunch or dinner and this no-knead olive artisan bread is one of my favourites.

This recipe builds on my simple 4-ingredient, no-knead Everyday Artisan Bread. It’s so delicious dipped into good quality olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar while it’s still warm. And served with tomato pastas and savoury soups? A dream team!

Like my other artisan bread recipes, this overnight olive loaf is straightforward to make and requires just a handful of extra ingredients.

Here’s everything you’ll need to make this Olive Artisan Bread

• 1½ cups water (360 grams), room temperature (at or near 70°F/21°C)
• 1 teaspoon (3 grams) active dry yeast
• 3 cups (390 grams) bread or all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 
• 1 teaspoon (3 grams) kosher or fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon (1 gram) dried oregano 
• 1 cup (180 grams) olives, pitted, dried and roughly chopped
• 2 teaspoons (9 grams) extra-virgin olive oil

Ideally, you will also have:

• Digital scale
• Dough scraper
• Parchment paper
• Razor blade or very sharp knife
• Dutch oven such as this one or this one

How to make No-Knead Olive Artisan Bread in 5 steps

1. Mix the dough.
2. Cover and let it rise until it has doubled in size.
3. Shape your dough and dust with flour.
4. Cover and proof the dough in the fridge overnight.
5. Turn dough out onto parchment, re-shape if needed, score and bake.

Baking schedule

Making this Olive Artisan Bread is a two-day process where the bread is mixed and prepared on day one, cold proofed in the fridge overnight, then baked on day two.

This is what it looks like:

Friday morning: Mix dough, cover and let rise.

Friday afternoon or evening: Shape dough, cover and put it in the fridge.

Saturday morning, afternoon or evening: Remove dough from the fridge, turn it out, score it and bake!

My best advice? Try this No-Knead Olive Artisan Bread toasted, slathered with mayo then topped with sliced tomatoes, a good drizzle of olive oil, lots of flaky salt and crushed black pepper for the best tomato toast!

Try this Green Olive & Rosemary Artisan Bread or this Simple Focaccia Bread next.

You can find more helpful information, suggested equipment, tips and resources for beginners in my Everyday Artisan Bread recipe here.

If you make this recipe, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! 

And of course, feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews. This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you!

No-Knead Olive Artisan Bread

5 from 1 vote

With a soft, airy crumb and a crispy crust, this No-Knead Olive Artisan Bread is made with briny, salty olives and deliciously seasoned with oregano. It’s super simple to make and pairs perfectly with rich, tomato-based pastas and hearty soups and stews! 

NOTE: This recipe has been updated to include an additional step in which the dough is cold proofed in the refrigerator prior to baking.

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Total Time:18 hours hrs

Keyword: artisan bread, baking, bread, no-knead, olive

Servings: 1 loaf

Equipment

• Digital scale
• Spatula
• Dough scraper
• 4 Qt mixing bowl
• Parchment paper
• 3 Qt Dutch oven

Ingredients

• 1½ cups water, room temperature (at or near 70°F/21°C)
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 3 cups bread or all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 cup olives, pitted, dried and roughly chopped
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

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Instructions

• Add the yeast to the water and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and oregano and let sit for 10 minutes. Add yeast mixture, olives and olive oil to the bowl and mix just until combined. The dough should look a little sticky and stringy and there should still be a little flour around the edges of the bowl.
• Cover and let rise somewhere warm (see note below) until it has doubled in size, about 8-10 hours.
• Once the dough has doubled in volume, use your hands (or a dough scraper if you have one) to pull the dough out onto a floured surface. With floured hands, gently fold the dough into itself several times until a soft, flour-covered ball is formed. Seam side up, lift and place it into a flour dusted bowl. Dust with flour, cover and refrigerate overnight. You can even leave it for as long as 48 hours at this point if you’re not able to bake it right away.
• When you're ready to bake your bread, preheat oven to 450ºF (232ºC) with your Dutch oven inside the oven.
• Uncover then invert the bowl to turn the dough out onto parchment paper seam side down. If needed, gently turn it with your hands and nudge it into the shape of a loaf. Score the top with a razor blade or the tip of a sharp knife with a design of your choosing. This will allow steam to escape while it’s baking.
• Once the oven is preheated, remove the Dutch oven from the oven and transfer the dough, still on the parchment, into the Dutch oven. Cover and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the cover and bake for 15-20 minutes more. Your bread will be done once the top is browned, and it sounds hollow when you tap the top.
• Using parchment edges, lift bread from Dutch oven and transfer it to a wire cooling rack to let cool for up to an hour before slicing.

Notes

Olives: Don’t skip drying the olives! This is easily done by laying them out between two paper towels or wrapped in a dry kitchen towel.

Rise time and temperature: An ambient rise temperature somewhere between ~70º-75º/20º-23ºC is ideal but even high 60’s/18º-19ºC should work if the dough is kept away from drafts. Note that rise times can vary based on temperature, environment and ingredients used. You will know your loaf is ready to bake when it has doubled in size, and this can take a minimum of 2-3 hours or as long as a full day. With a little experimentation, you will find the time frame that works best for you.

Storage: This bread will keep well on the counter for up to 3 days and in the refrigerator for up to a week. Sliced bread will freeze well for up to 3 months.