This Olive Ham and Cheese Loaf is packed with incredible flavors. Ham, Gruyere cheese, olives, and a touch of mint send this quick bread right over the edge. It’s almost a meal in itself!
Who doesn’t love a good quick bread? With this recipe taking only 40 minutes from start to finish, you don’t have time to not make it. Now you might be a little skeptical now about an olive and ham loaf, and I don’t blame you it seemed a little out there to me at first too.
But this loaf is absolutely delicious and nearly a meal all on its own! Now, when I tell you this loaf is loaded, I mean it. The best part about this is that it really is customizable. You can switch up the type of meat, olives, cheese and herbs to really make this recipe your own.
Since this bread had a big salty hit from these olives and a bit from the ham, I decided to go with a lighter and nuttier type of cheese. Gruyere gave it the cheesy goodness I was craving without loading up on too much sodium. You are free to experiment with different types of cheese that you love and are available to you. It’s your loaf, after all!
Ingredients
- Flour – Just all purpose flour is all we need today.
- Baking powder – The key to a quick bread! This is our leavening agent as opposed to using yeast.
- Ham – Pre-cooked and cubed up into smaller bite sized pieces.
- Olives – I like Kalmata olives for a salty briny hit, chop these up too to ensure we get even distribution.
- Cheese – I chose something mild and creamy today because we’re getting a lot of salt from our olives and ham. Go for something that will balance and mellow those flavors out.
- Herbs – We’re using fresh mint today, chopped up for some brightness and freshness.
- Eggs – We’re using 4 large eggs today – I know quite a bit but we’re going for a super dense loaf and dense loaves need strong binders.
- Butter – Unsalted so as to control the sodium content of our loaf.
Substitutions
- You can use 1 cup of self rising flour in place of the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- We used Kalamata olives for this recipe, however you can use any type that you like best.
- Gruyere cheese can be substituted with any light Swiss cheese.
Never Heard Of Quick Bread?
A quick bread is a bread that uses leavening agents other than yeast to rise. That means that we’re going to bake this more like a cake, with baking powder and baking soda. That means no kneading, no rolling, no resting (till it bakes of course) and a way more reliable finished product for our baking novices!
Fear not, unlike cake this loaf won’t be sweet, though I have plenty of recipes for quick sweet breads. This bread though, is packed full of savory drool worthy flavors.
How To Make Olive Ham and Cheese Loaf
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and generously grease a 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray or butter.
- Combine the dry ingredients: Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper to a large mixing bowl and combine well. Add the ham, olives, cheese, and mint to the bowl. Mix until everything is evenly coated in the flour mixture. Add the eggs, butter, and mix until well combined.
- Bake the loaf: Transfer the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top. Bake the loaf for 30-35 minutes, or until the top turns golden brown. Cool on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes before slicing into it.
Patience Is Key
The all important rule of thumb when making any loaf is to let it rest after baking. Some swear by leaving them overnight, others by just 1 hour – either way you need to make sure it gets some alone time!
Storing Your Leftover Loaf
This bread can be frozen for up to 2 months. Let it cool completely, slice it to your desired thickness, and store in an airtight freezer bag. Otherwise just toss it in an airtight container and keep in your fridge for up to 4 days.
Craving More Quick Bread? Try These Delicious Recipes
- Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Loaf
- Cranberry Quick Bread
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Bread
- The Best Pumpkin Bread
- Lemon Poppy Seed Bread
- Old Fashioned Lemon Bread
- Banana Nut Bread
- Zucchini Bread
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Olive Ham and Cheese Loaf
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ cup ham cubed
- 1 cup Kalamata olives chopped
- ⅔ cup Gruyere cheese shredded
- 2 tbsp mint chopped
- 4 large eggs lightly beaten
- 5 tbsp butter unsalted, melted
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and generously grease a 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray or butter.
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper to a large mixing bowl and combine well. Add the ham, olives, cheese, and mint to the bowl. Mix until everything is evenly coated in the flour mixture. Add the eggs, butter, and mix until well combined.
- Transfer the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top.
- Bake the loaf for 30-35 minutes, or until the top turns golden brown. Cool on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes before slicing into it.
Video
Recipe Notes
- We used Kalamata olives for this recipe, however you can use any type that you like best.
- Gruyere cheese can be substituted with any light Swiss cheese.
- You can use 1 cup of self rising flour in place of the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- This bread can be frozen for up to 2 months. Let it cool completely, slice it to your desired thickness, and store in an airtight freezer bag.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
This was a solid, delicious recipe even with a GF flour blend.
I just tried this and liked it. I did use self raising flour and half teaspoon baking powder. Didn’t have mint but still came out tasty. I used my olives that I keep in olive oil with vinegar and the olives added a nice flavour. It wasn’t very high after baking and I would make a double batch next time.
Bread tasted great but mine didn’t rise at all. Followed the recipe exactly so don’t know what happened.
It won’t rise much, only a bit from the baking powder.
So good!!!
This recipe looks so good. I am always looking for ways to use leftover ham. What would you suggest this could be served with? What if I wanted it as an appetizer. How would you serve it?
This would be great as an appetizer! You can cut thick slices, and then each slice into 4 small pieces to serve bite sizes.
I am considering using mini muffin tins as I thought that trying to cut each slice up with such chunky ingredients, that it might fall apart too easily….???
I would definitely cut the pieces much smaller if you’re using a mini muffin tin to avoid that issue.
to keep it dairy free, do you think this would turn out okay coconut oil or another type of fat?
For sure!
Gorgeous photos, I want to make the same exquisite dish
Do you think this would work in mini muffin pans to use as an appetizer?
For sure! You might have to cut the olives and ham into smaller pieces.
Hi Jo,
This sounds so good! I would like to make this for a trip we are taking, would this need to be refrigerated?
Linda
Normally, because of the cheese, I would refrigerate this, but it should be fine for your trip.
OMG – this looks divine!!
Can’t wait to cook it this weekend.
Thank you @JoCooks, yum, yum.
Oh em gee. YUM!! Pinned!
Hi Jo, I am so happy I found you!
I am Romanian and I moved here when I was 13. I have lived in Chicago for 27 years but I am the proudest Romanian 🙂 🙂 and and so happy to find your recipes. I am making the stuffed peppers next week and I can not wait to tell you how they come out. I also can not wait to make the perisoare soup.
Hi Raluca! I’m happy you found me too! Do let me know how the stuffed peppers turn out.
P.S. I have a cousin named Raluca!