country house weekend savory breakfast bread
~ cake aux olives et jambon ~
olive and ham loaf
I found this amazing recipe while perusing the pages of one of my favorite cookbooks, Paris Boulangerie Patisserie : Recipes from Thirteen Outstanding French Bakeries by Linda Dannenberg. This particular recipe is from the oldest patisserie in the city, Stohrer.
Stohrer’s chef, Chef Moreau, invented this savory cake recipe that is studded with ham and olives, and is frequently bought on Fridays by the patrons of the bakery to take along with them for long weekends in the country. I just love that description and the imagery that my imagination conjures up at the words “French country house weekend.” Ahhhh, romance…. 😉
I hope you enjoy this bread as much as we do. It’s fabulous for picnics, with tea, or as an addition to a brunch buffet. Jeff LOVES it. I have used sherry in place of vermouth and swiss cheese in place of the gruyere before and it’s still awesome.
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup dry vermouth or sherry
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 and 1/2 cups cooked, finely diced, ham
1 and 1/2 cups gruyere or swiss cheese
3/4 cup green olives, pitted and coarse chopped
black pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs and add the wine, vermouth and oil. Mix until smooth. Add to the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Fold in the ham, cheese and olives until just incorporated.
Butter an 8×4-inch loaf pan. Pour the batter in. Grind a little fresh black pepper over the top. Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean. About 55-65 minutes.
Cool briefly on a wire rack. After 10 minutes, invert loaf onto rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!
~Melissa
This sounds really good, Melissa! I’ve never seen bread like this before. I’m definitely going to have to try it!
It’s soooo yummy. Perfect for date night in front of the fireplace with a glass of vino and your sweetie 😉 xo
Ooh yeah – I’ve been meaning to make something like this for a while – a sandwich shop near my office sells savoury cakes too… lardons, courgette and goat’s cheese, olives and tomato, and they’re so good. Yours looks just the same – moist and spongey. It’s hard not to overdose on this stuff though. It’s so wonderful you can easily sit there casually scooping it into your mouth 😀
This turned out so good! If you have a recipe for one you like, please pass it my way.
Enjoy! 🙂
Yes it’s me, and I’m in love again… This marvelous bread really floats my boat, Melissa! I was already super impressed, and THEN I recognized one of my all-time favorite cookbooks – ‘Paris Boulangerie Patisserie : Recipes from Thirteen Outstanding French Bakeries’ by Linda Dannenberg. Now I’m jumping-up-and-down excited! Snoopy dancing excited! Thanks so much for bringing it to our virtual Spring Picnic 🙂
yay! so pleased you like the recipe 🙂 have a lovely picnic! xoxo
This sounds delish but is there a substitute for the alcohol that won’t diminish the bread’s quality flavour?? I’m 10 years sober and I don’t have alcohol in the house. I know that it cooks off but I don’t even want to have to go and buy it. Could I use a fruit juice??
Hi Barb! you could use white grape juice 🙂 xoxo
Was wondering what might make a good substitute for the ham, which we don’t eat at our house…perhaps some dried fruit?
Hi Roberta 🙂 Do you eat any meat? turkey ham? smoked turkey? turkey bacon… something smokey will make a good substitute. Not sure about dried fruit… let me know how it turns out. XO
I just had a thought…try your dried fruit idea, and add a little smoked paprika! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I am definitely going to give this a good try. It sounds awesome. I might even spice it up and sprinkle a bit of red pepper flakes in the batter….and why not add some slivered almonds or chopped walnut to give it a crunch too? What do you think?
Thanks so much for visiting, Annette! enjoy the recipe 🙂
slivered almonds and red pepper sound like great additions, Annette! let me know how it turns out 🙂
This would be a great compliment to a bowl of soup. Thanks, Melissa!