Today we’re still in the snacks department. Let me introduce a bread with fancy looks, not too good for a sandwich but perfect to pull apart and dip in something before eating.

Dziś pozostajemy w dziale przekąsek. Z przyjemnością zaprezentuję Wam chleb o nietypowym wyglądzie, nienajlepszy na kanapkę, ale idealny żeby go porwać i zanurzyć w czymś przed jedzeniem.

It’s so hot today, I don’t really feel like making anything, so I’m focusing on snacks now, something reasonably easy to make and with a nice effect.

Fougasse is a French bread, most often flat and with holes. I’ve made it once before and it was delicious. It was so long before that the only thing I remember about it is that I still traces after burning my hands then. I think it was one of the first times when I baked at temperatures around 230 C degrees.

First fougasse

This time I decided to add olives as the recipe suggested. I went to a Cypriot supermarket called Yasar Halim. When I enter a Polish store it’s like going home. When I visit a Cypriot store it’s like a distant travel adventure. We’ve got two stores like that close to home (the other run by Andreas Michli with family) and they differ a bit, but I enjoy visiting both. This time I went to Yasar Halim to get the olives and hummus for dipping.

Olives

Before we continue, just a note: This recipe comes from “Bread” by J. Hamelman (sources), but you don’t need to use this dough. You can use your favourite pizza dough recipe, or any other that you know how to make. You may need to work out proofing times for it.

The recipe mentions dough proofing temperatures around 24 C degrees, and it’s above 30 C degrees today, so I used a bit less yeast and shortened times.

Planning

This recipe uses a levain prepared around 12 hours before making the dough, then 2 hours proofing, dividing, 1 hour proofing, stretching and baking.

Because it was hot, I did 8 hours for levain, 90 minutes bulk proof and around an hour final proofing (would’ve done less, but the oven was occupied and we made a small barber shop at home in the meantime.

Ingredients

Mister Hamelman says it’s for two fougasses, I made four smaller ones, around 230 g each.

Levain

• 122 g strong white wheat flour
• 79 g water
• 2 g salt
• pinch of dried yeast (or 0.2 g fresh yeast)

Final dough

Just note that the levain, olives and olive oil are added later then the rest.

• 320 g strong white wheat flour
• 48 g wholemeal wheat flour
• 255 g water
• 6 g salt
• 3 g instant yeast or 8 g fresh
• 26 g olive oil
• 40 g olives, sliced (you can skip them or replace with anchovies)
• 204 g levain

Preparation

1. Mix the levain and leave for about 12 hours

2. Mix all the dough ingredients except for olive oil, olives and levain and 10% of water (meaning add only 90%). Use low speed for about 3 minutes. Gradually add chunks of the levain. Add the rest of the water if you think the dough is too dry

3. Switch to higher speed for the next 6 minutes. Gradually add the olive oil. This part improves the gluten structure

4. Stop the mixer, make a well in the middle and put a third of the olives in and turn it on for about 30 seconds. Stop, make well, add half of the remaining olives, mix for 30 seconds. Stop, make well, add the rest, mix for 30 seconds. This is a trick to add olives late enough to not have them broken and mashed into the dough, have them spread evenly and not have them stuck to the walls of the mixer bowl

5. Leave the dough for 2 hours. Stretch and fold after 1 hour

6. Split the dough in portions, I did four. Round each portion, place on floured surface, cover with cling film

7. Leave for an hour. If you’re baking on a stone, start the oven straight away

8. Start the oven, set it to 230 C degrees. I used a fan, as I think it doesn’t make much difference with this bake. Know your oven

9. I placed the dough on floured baking trays and didn’t use a stone. I placed one on a baking parchment, worked well too

10. Stretch the chunk into a triangle-like shape, cut the holes in it for decoration, then stretch a little bit more to open the holes. If you want a stronger flavour, you can brush it with olive oil and sprinkle some salt or pepper on it

11. Bake for about 20 minutes with steam in the oven. After about 10 minutes release the steam

12. They cool down very quickly, so you should not have to wait too long. I recommend having some dip for it, at least some olive oil

    

    Fougasse

I didn’t bother shaping them too precisely, so they turned out a bit too thin here and there, but other than that they were ok, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. When taking out of the oven I thought I baked them dry and hard, but they softened immediately. I could have left them for a bit to get a darker colour, but I was affraid I would burn them.

The advantage of fougasse is that you can use whichever dough you like and even when shaped in an average way, they still look nice. I recommend preparing them right before eating, as there is a lot of area to get hard quickly.