Fougasse

This is a typical bread from the Provence in France: Fougasse. It is a bread made of yeast and with lots of olive oil.
Additionally you can add dried tomatos, rosemary, thyme, bacon, garlic, sliced olives or anchovies – whatever you like. Fougasse is perfect for a picnic, for a barbecue or simply with an aperitif. Aurélie Bastian from “Französisch Kochen” (French Cooking) gave the recipe to me when I visited her workshop for Macarons. Don’t cut the bread, just break a piece from the Fougasse and enjoy the taste which reminds you of the Mediterranean France.

Recipe
500 g flour
40 g yeast
50 ml olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
300 ml water

Additional: dried tomatoes, rosemary, thyme, olives, garlic, bacon, anchovies.

Bring the water to handwarm temperature in a pot on the stove (it should not be warmer! – yeast doesn’t like too hot)  Dissolve the yeast in the handwarm water. Mix all ingredients together to a smooth dough.
Put the dough in a bowl, cover it with a towel and let it rest for 1 hour. 
Add the additional ingredients, if necessary chopp them in advance.

Preheat the oven to 210 °C.

Divide the dough into two halves. Spread each half to an oval shape on 2 baking trays. Make 3 cuts, 5 cm long on each half of one dough (similar to the pattern of a leaf) and stretch them with your fingers. Brush the Fougasse with olive oil and add some salt on top. Bake each Fougasse for 15 minutes.