Instructions: If the olives have been kept in brine they will be extremely salty and will first have to be rinsed briefly.

Chop the spinach onions and coriander finely.

In a bowl dissolve the yeast in half the warm water.

Let it stand for 10 minutes.

In another large bowl mix the flour olive oil and half of the salt and rub together.

Add the yeast solution mix well and knead with your knuckles for 10 minutes.

Keep adding more of the warm water as necessary.

You may not need all of it even though the dough should be quite wet and sticky.

In a separate bowl mix all the chopped greenery with the drained olives and remaining salt. Add to the dough mix well and knead again until all is well incorporated.

Cover the dough with a clean tea towel and then a blanket and let it rest in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until it is well risen.

Preheat the oven to 220 C/42s F/gas 7.
Oil a baking tray with a little vegetable oil and also oil your hands to prevent the dough from sticking to them.

Form the dough into large rolls about 8cm across.

Arrange on the baking tray. (You can usually only fit a dozen at a time on a tray so as they have to be cooked in the middle of a conventional oven you may have to cook in two batches; if you have a fanassisted oven you can cook two trays at a time.)

Keep oiling your hands while you are working.

Place the baking tray(s) in the oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Then turn the heat down to 1go C/37s F/gas 5 and cook for another 15 minutes until the rolls are nicely brown.

Freshly baked these crusty rolls are magnificent; cold they are unforgettably robust! They are excellentfor a picnic but also good with drinks before dinner. Once baked they can be frozen then allowed to defrost for a couple of hours before being warmed up in the oven. One word of warning do not use sharp olives soaked in vinegar such as the Greek Kalamata but an oily or wrinkly type. The olives can be used with the stones but do warn people.

Makes about 22 rolls

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