Make Olive Oil Yourself: Here’s How

Have you ever made olive oil yourself? No? Let’s go! This isn’t rocket science. And the leftover olives can be used to bake delicious focaccia bread.

If you don’t want to use olive oil from the supermarket, you can press it yourself. Important to know: The result is not oil in the traditional sense, but a delicious oil mixture that still contains a little water and turbidity.

The homemade oil is suitable as a small, fine starter with olive focaccia, drizzled onto fresh ciabatta, or with raw vegetables. We explain a recipe for self-pressed olive oil and one for olive focaccia.

Make olive oil yourself: the ingredients

Quantity: 4 servings

Cooking time: 40 minutes + 8 hours waiting time

Nutritional values per serving:

• 165.6 kcal / 680.8 kJ
• 18.4 grams of fat
• 0 grams of protein
• 0 grams of carbohydrates
• 0 grams of dietary fiber

Ingredients:

• 1-kilo green olives in brine (drained approx. 500 g)
• 1 close-meshed cotton cloth, e.g. cheesecloth (approx. 30 cm x 40 cm)
• Blender, bowl, jar for storage

Make olive oil yourself

1. Put the olives in a colander and let the liquid drain. Then put the olives in a tall container and mash them in batches with the hand blender to create a thick paste.
2. Place the pasta in a saucepan and warm over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, for about ten minutes.
3. Hang a medium-sized sieve in a bowl and line it with the strainer. Pour in the olive paste and allow it to cool slightly.
4. Now wrap the cloth as tightly as possible around the paste, twist it up and start pressing. Keep turning, pressing, and kneading the “bag” so that as much liquid as possible comes out. catch these. Repeat until no more liquid comes out.
5. Leave the bowl covered with the liquid overnight. Don’t stir. Fat and water should separate.
6. The next day carefully scoops out the layer of oil that has formed on top with a flat spoon and collects it in a jar. This gives about 80 to 100 ml of oil.
7. Use the squeezed olive pulp for delicious focaccia, use the pressed liquid for a salad dressing or a hearty sauce.

Recipe for an olive focaccia

Quantity: 4 to 6 servings

Cooking time: 20 minutes + 1 hour 40 minutes waiting time

Nutritional values per serving (for 4 servings):

• 535.2 kcal / 2,256.2 kJ
• 14.0 grams of fat
• 16.6 grams of protein
• 84.7 grams of carbohydrates
• 1.9 grams of dietary fiber

Ingredients:

• 500 g spelled flour (type 1050)
• 1 packet of dry yeast
• 3 tbsp canola oil
  approx. 170 g olive pulp/pomace from the oil production (alternatively: 120 g finely chopped green olives)
  possibly a pinch of salt
• 2 tsp fresh rosemary

Step-by-step to olive focaccia

1. Mix flour with yeast in a bowl. Add oil, 330 ml water, and olive pulp (or approx. 275 ml water and chopped olives). Possibly lightly salt. Mix everything well, then knead thoroughly. The dough should be elastic and not dry. Shape the dough into a ball and let it rise covered in a warm place for about 45 minutes.
2. Grease a baking sheet or line with baking paper. Roll out the dough into a rectangle about two centimeters thick and punch holes in it. Let rise again for about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to top/bottom heat: 200 degrees/convection 175 degrees. Place a cup of water on the bottom of the oven.
3. Sprinkle the focaccia with rosemary and place it in the oven. Bake until light brown in about 25 minutes. Enough with the homemade oil.