Pretty As A Picture

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It’s been another cool and dull day here, the kind to stay indoors as much as possible and what better to do than get some baking done? I knew I hadn’t the need to think about dinner as that was going to be a take-out courtesy of our local Italian place The Bridge, they serve really great, high quality food which I don’t have to think twice about eating unlike many other sources of take-away food.  Risotto was the order of the night, so I had to think about some bread.

Fougasse were my choice, even though it would require a little culinary globe trotting when we sat down to eat, never a bad thing though

You wouldn’t think that mixing a four ingredients – yeast, water, salt and flour, would allow you to create something outstandingly pretty would you? To me all handmade (and especially home made) bread containing nothing but the essential and pure ingredients, plus a good dose of love, care and attention is beautiful but fougasse always leave people open mouthed in awe of how attractive they look.

Fougasse are a speciality bread of France (mainly the region of Provence), a flat bread in nature they are often slashed in a trellis pattern to resemble an ear of wheat or the tree of life, although fancy designs are becoming very popular.  Whether this change in pattern is due to customer demand or the chance for bakers to show their skill I’m none too sure, but they sure do look good.

Fougasse are not all that dissimilar to the Italian equivalent of focaccia, a tray baked flat bread often studded with olives, herbs, or other flavouring. Not so long back I made an olive focaccia which went down a treat, more details can be found here. So maybe not so much globe trotting after all

The fougasse made the perfect accompaniment to risotto, not only was it aesthetically pleasing to the eye but the bread was the perfect texture for mopping up the risotto ‘juices’, soaking them up like a sponge and becoming moist and scrumptious. They were also great to munch on ‘plain’ giving a nice alteration in mouth feel to the soft, creamy and soothing risotto.

The recipe came from Dough: Simple Contemporary Bread: Simple Contemporary Bread (Richard Bertinet) which is an absolute gem of a book, especially for the novice baker.  Don’t get me wrong there are lots of lovely recipe ideas and photographs included that would have any baker, experienced or not, drooling over the pages but Richard has a great way of describing techniques and terms in such a manner to inform and not worry the novice. The book also includes a fabulous DVD showing how these techniques are performed with a great commentary too.

Although the recipe called for standard strong bread flour I used type 55 which I’ve discussed at length here. I chose to do this because it gives a slightly softer and chewier dough, great for fougasse but perfect for the additional bread rolls I wanted to make with the leftover dough. Strong flour would I’m sure be fine for the fougasse if that’s all you are baking but for the rolls I definitely go for type 55 flour or a ratio of strong to plain i.e. 2/3 strong flour to 1/3 plain.

I’ve been on a quest to find a great bread roll, some alright ones, some good and some downright awful but these were delightful, the best I’ve yet to bake. Having a lovely golden crust which remained soft but not overly doughy. They are so light and airy, perfect for stuffing with any filling you could think of, I’ve got them lined up for sausages in the morning for brunch.

The Recipe:

For the dough:

• 10g fresh yeast
• 500g strong white flour
• 10g salt
• 350g warm water

1. Preheat the oven to 250C
2. Rub the yeast into the flour using your fingertips as if making a crumble.
3. Add the salt and water.
4. Hold the bowl with one hand and mix the ingredients around with the other hand for 2-3 minutes until the dough starts to foam.
5. Tip the dough on to your work surface, slightly oil the surface if you wish but do not flour, even though the dough is very sticky – it will come together, trust me.
6. Slide your fingers underneath the dough with your thumbs on top, swing the dough upwards then slap it down away from you, stretch the front of the dough towards you and lift it back over itself in an arc to trap in the air.
7. Keep repeating stage 6 until the dough comes cleanly away from the work surface, looks silky and feels smooth, firm and responsive.
8. Form the dough into a ball and leave in an oiled dish covered by a tea-towel for one hour or until doubled in size.

For the fougasse:

1. Flour your work surface well and using the rounded end of a dough scraper release the dough from the bowl.
2. Scoop out the dough being very careful not to deflate the air.
3. Let the dough spread out to form a rough square and generously flour the top of the dough.
4. Cut the dough into two rectangles and then cut each piece into three.
5. For each piece, make a long cut at a diagonal all the way through the dough but not right to the edges, make three more diagonal cuts at each side of the original cut, gently open the slits with your fingers.
6. Lift the breads onto a floured baking tray and place into a hot oven (230C) for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the bread rolls:

1. Tip the dough on to a floured work surface and divide into 10-12 pieces.
2. Form each piece into a roll and place well spaced out on a baking tray.
3. Cover the tray(s) with a tea towel and leave to rise again for 45 minutes or until double in size.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 220C or the equivalent.
5. Transfer to a wire rack and cover with a damp tea towel, allow to cool.

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Filed under Bread, Vegetarian