Fougasse with Olives and Rosemary

Before you start

Fougasse is the Provençal cousin of focaccia, shaped into a flat leaf or ladder and cut through in several places before baking. The openings matter: they multiply the amount of crust, so every piece you tear off is crisp at the edges and chewy in the middle.

The dough is fairly wet and enriched only with a little olive oil. Stretch-and-fold sets during the first rise build strength without kneading. The cuts must go all the way through and be pulled wide, because the dough closes up again as it proofs and bakes. Keep the olives patted dry so they do not make wet pockets.

Ingredients

• 500 g (4 cups + 2 tbsp) bread flour
• 10 g (1⅔ tsp) fine salt
• 5 g (1½ tsp) instant yeast
• 360 ml (1½ cups) lukewarm water
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil — plus 2 tbsp for brushing
• 70 g (½ cup) pitted Kalamata or Niçoise olives — chopped and patted dry
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary — finely chopped
• to finish flaky sea salt

Method

1. Mix the flour, salt and yeast in a bowl. Add the water and 30 ml olive oil and stir until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest for 15 minutes.
2. Scatter the olives and rosemary over the dough. With a wet hand, stretch one side of the dough up and fold it over the rest, rotate the bowl a quarter turn and repeat four times. Cover.
3. Repeat the set of stretch-and-folds twice more at 20-minute intervals, then let the dough rise undisturbed until roughly doubled and full of bubbles, about 30 to 40 minutes more (90 minutes from mixing in total).
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured counter and divide it in two. Gently pat each into a rough oval, cover and rest for 20 minutes so the gluten relaxes.
5. Move each piece to a parchment-lined baking sheet and press and stretch it into a teardrop or triangle about 30 cm (12 in) long and 1.5 cm (½ in) thick.
6. With a bench scraper or pizza wheel, cut one long slit down the center, leaving 3 cm (1 in) uncut at each end. Cut three angled slits on each side, like the veins of a leaf. Pull the dough with your fingers to open each cut to about 3 cm wide.
7. Cover loosely and proof for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 230°C (450°F) with a rack in the middle. Reopen any cuts that have closed.
8. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with flaky salt. Bake one sheet at a time for 18 to 22 minutes, until deep golden and crisp at the cut edges. Cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes; serve the same day.

Tips for success

• Cut all the way through to the parchment. Partial cuts just seal back up.
• If the dough springs back when you stretch the openings, wait 5 minutes and pull them wider again.
• Bake a little darker than you think. The thin parts should be crisp and well browned.

Substitutions

Olives

Use 80 g diced cooked bacon or lardons for a version often seen in southern France, or 60 g sun-dried tomatoes, chopped and blotted.

Rosemary

Thyme, herbes de Provence or chopped sage work. Use 2 tsp of dried herbs in place of fresh.

Bread flour

All-purpose flour works with 20 ml less water. The fougasse will be a little less chewy.

Variations

Cheese fougasse

Scatter 60 g grated Gruyère or Comté over the dough before baking, keeping it off the cut edges.

Ladder fougasse

Shape a long rectangle and cut parallel crosswise slits down its length, then stretch them open.

Troubleshooting

The cuts closed up in the oven

They were not stretched wide enough or the dough overproofed. Open them to about 3 cm right before baking.

Bread is pale and soft rather than crisp

The oven was too cool or the bread was too thick. Bake at 230°C and keep it no thicker than 1.5 cm.

Dough tears while shaping

It needs more rest. Cover it for 10 more minutes and stretch gently from the center outward.

Storage

Fougasse is best within a few hours of baking. Keep leftovers loosely wrapped at room temperature for 1 day and re-crisp at 200°C (400°F) for 5 minutes. Freeze for up to 1 month.

Safety notes

Raw dough contains uncooked flour and should not be tasted. Contains wheat.