Fougasse Fresh from the Oven

Like every end of the summer season I've turned myself onto a preserve mode. I feel like a squirrel who crams its tiny hollow with dry nuts till no free space is left. In my case the dry nuts are replaced by plums, tomatoes and red bell peppers. For the last two weeks the oven works almost every night. I'm using it as a dehydrator – fan function at 60 – 70ºC. Bell peppers, if on slices are completely dry in one night (in 2 – if left whole). Halved roma tomatoes and damson plums are ready in 2 nights.
When Claire from Purely food set this month's challenge for Fresh from the Oven to be fougasse I was more than anticipating to use the dehydrated bounty I've piled up in the larder.

I was the one who kneaded the dough but it was Ivan who made this beautiful leaf-like bread. We ate it with goat cheese and tomatoes. One segment of the leaf left and Ivan cut it into thin slices and made bruschetti out of it – they were gorgeous with Fourme d'Ambert cheese.

It was a wonderful and tasty challenge.

Don't forget to visit Fresh from the Oven page to see other members' creations.

Fougasse Recipe:

• 240 gr all purpose flour;
• 125 gr lukewarm water;
• 20 gr olive oil;
• 4 gr salt;
• 1 tsp sugar;
• 5 gr fresh yeast;
• 1 ½ tsp fresh rosemary(finely chopped);
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped dry tomatoes;
• 1 Tbsp crushed dry sweet red peppers;
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped olives.

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, rosemary, dry tomatoes, dry peppers, olives. Mix well and make a well in the center.

In a small bowl, mix together water, sugar and yeast, then pour this mixture over the flour mixture. Add olive oil. Use your hand mixer equipped with the dough hooks to form dough. Transfer to a lightly floured counter top and knead by hand for around 10 minutes to develop the gluten. Transfer the dough back to the bowl, cover and leave it to rise until double in bulk.

Knock the dough back to a lightly floured counter top, give it a quick knead just to make it uniform and roll it out using a rolling pin or just stretch it with your hands.

Use bench scrapper or pizza cutter to make cuts resembling leaf veins on the flat bread. Stretch the holes with your hands and carefully transfer the fougasse onto lined with paper baking sheet. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave it to rise for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 220ºC. Brush the fougasse with olive oil and bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until golden. Take out of the oven and brush with olive oil again.
Best if eaten right away.