Recipe: Fougasse with herbs and olives

INGREDIENTS

For the poolish (pre-dough):

2 g fresh yeast

160 g water (cold)

40 g wholemeal wheat flour

120 g wheat flour type 550 (strong)

For the main dough:

Poolish

200 g water (cold)

100 g wholemeal wheat flour

240 g wheat flour type 550 (strong)

5 g fresh yeast

30 g olive oil

11 g salt

1 tbsp dried herbs of your choice (e.g. thyme, oregano, rosemary)

80 g olives, green and black

The evening before: Dissolve the yeast in the water for the poolish. Mix with the flour mix together. Cover and leave to mature at room temperature for about 1 hour, then place in the fridge overnight. The next day, the poolish should have increased significantly in volume and be full of bubbles.

On baking day: For the main dough of the fougasse, mix the poolish with the water in a bowl. Add the flour and mix until there are no more flour pockets. Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Add the yeast and oil to the dough. Knead for around 5 minutes on the lowest setting or by hand. Cover and leave to stand for a further 10 minutes or so. Add the salt and herbs and knead into a smooth, rather soft dough that passes the windowpane test.

Cut the olives into rings. Gently stretch the dough into a rectangle on a moistened work surface with wet hands and spread the olives on top. Fold the dough in first from the bottom and top, then from the right and left and shape into a ball. Alternatively, the olives can be briefly kneaded into the dough with a food processor at the end of the kneading time.

Leave the fougasse dough to rise for about 60 minutes at 32 °C on the Dough Prove setting until it has doubled in volume. After half an hour, grasp the edge of the dough with a wet hand and pull upwards (stretch) and fold in towards the centre (fold). Repeat the process until the dough is stretched and folded on all sides. Place back in the oven and leave to rise again.

Preheat the oven to 250 °C top/bottom heating. Turn the risen dough carefully onto a well-floured work surface and divide into two equal pieces. Carefully shape into triangular dough pieces. Cover and leave to rest for a further 20-30 minutes.

Then gently pull the first piece of dough into shape with your fingers so that it is the same thickness all over. Take care not to squeeze out the air bubbles. Place on a lightly floured sheet of baking paper. To create the typical leaf-like shape of the fougasse, cut the centre twice with the flat side of a pastry card. Leave a border at the top and bottom. Then make four shorter cuts on each side.

Carefully pull the dough piece apart from the sides to open the incisions. Place on a baking tray with the baking paper.

Bake the fougasse in a preheated oven with the addition of steam (level 3) for 12-15 minutes until crispy. Proceed in the same way with the second piece of dough.