Fougasse

Making Fougasse Ahead

Best the day it is baked. Two days wrapped; refresh at 200°C / 390°F for 5 minutes.

How to Make Fougasse

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1. Mix the flour, yeast and salt, then work in the water and 4 tbsp oil to a soft, wet dough. Knead 8 minutes with a scraper.

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2. Work in the olives, herbs and garlic. Cover and prove 90 minutes until doubled.

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3. Heat the oven to 230°C / 450°F with a heavy tray inside.

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4. Divide the dough in two and stretch each into a rough oval on a sheet of baking paper, about 1.5 cm thick.

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5. Cut a long slash down the centre and three angled slashes off each side, like the veins of a leaf, going right through to the paper.

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6. Push your fingers into each cut and pull it wide open — much wider than looks sensible, since they shrink.

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7. Slide onto the hot tray and bake 25 minutes, until deep gold and crisp. Brush with the remaining oil and scatter with flaky salt.

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Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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A Few Pointers

• Cut all the way through and pull the holes wide open.
• A wet dough. It gives the thin parts their crispness.
• Brush with oil the moment it leaves the oven.

Behind the Recipe

The cuts must go all the way through the dough to the tray and then be pulled open with your fingers — a slash that is not opened simply closes again as the bread proves and bakes, and you get an ordinary flatbread with lines on it. Pull them wider than looks right, because they shrink by roughly half. The dough is also wetter than most bread doughs, which is what gives the thin sections their crispness.

Good Alongside

Tapenade · A glass of rosé · Soup

Changing the Recipe

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Questions About Fougasse

Nutrition per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

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