Pesto Pasta with Olive Bread

Ingredients

• ½ pack dry yeast
• 3 ½ dl lukewarm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 480 g plain white flour
• 2 tsp sea salt flakes
• 8 tbsp olive oil
• 70 g kalamata olives
• 90 g pasta gigli
• 3 handful fresh basil
• 30 g toasted pine nuts
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 clove garlic
• ¼ x lemon
• 1 x celery sticks

Method

1. If you follow the weekly menu this dish is a part of, you can make the bread. If not, you can choose to serve bread you have at home or buy a good country bread.
2. Olive bread: Mix dry yeast, water and sugar to a small bowl and cover with a cloth. Leave for a few minutes until white bubbles form over the liquid.
3. Mix the yeast mixture together with wheat flour, flaxseed salt, 1/4 of the olive oil and chopped kalamata olives in a large bowl and knead for 10 minutes. Put the bowl in a warm place with a cloth over it and let the dough rise for 1 hour.
4. Bake the bread and let it rise, with a baking paper under the dough, in a varm place for about 30 min. After 20 minutes, insert the iron pot with the lid to the oven on the lower rack. Heat the oven to 250 degrees celsius.
5. Carefully take the iron pot out of the oven and transfer the baking sheet with the bread into it. Put the lid on and bake in the oven at 220 degrees celsius for about 30 minutes.
6. Remove the lid and cook for another 15 minutes. Once finished, let the bread cool on a cooling rack.
7. Prepare pasta according to the recipe on the package.
8. Pesto: Add fresh basil, pine nuts, olive oil, nutritional yeast, garlic and the juice of the lemon in a food processor. Mix until the pesto is smooth.
9. Mix pasta and pesto together. Cut celery sticks and sprinkle over. Serve immediately with a little basil on top and delicious freshly baked bread.