Focaccia - Fougasse
Focaccia is a flatbread and comes from Liguria, is prepared with yeast and is often refined with olive oil or dried tomatoes and olives.
The Provençal version is the fougasse, essentially the same recipe but baked in a different way.
The Ligurian and Provençal versions come in savory and sweet versions, but the savory version is more common.
Our recipe comes from Jean-Louis Colney – Head Baker at Restaurant/Hotel Ousteau de Baumanière. Not much effort, but the dough takes time.
Interesting
Focaccia and Fougasse have the same Roman origin. The ‘panis focacius’ of the Romans means ‘bread baked in the ashes of the hearth’ (Latin focus – hearth)[1]
Important Questions
Do you have to use fresh yeast?
Fresh yeast tastes better, but if none is available, halve the indicated amount and use dry yeast.
Isn’t that a pizza dough?
Focaccia is often considered the forerunner of pizza. You can use the dough as pizza dough.
What kind of flour?
In France, wheat flour T65 is used. This corresponds to W700 in Austria, 812 in Germany and 720 in Switzerland. Since the gluten content is not the same for all types of flour, the amount of water may have to be adjusted.
[1] Walther von Wartburg: Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Band 3. Teubner, Leipzig/Berlin 1934, S. 647 ff. (Artikel focācium)
Ingredients
(for 10-12 Pcs)
– 500g Wheat Flour
– 310ml water
– 7g fresh yeast (dry yeast – ½ amount)
– 30g Olive Oil
– 12g salt
– Olive oil for brushing
Refining
You can let your creativity run loose. Dried tomatoes and olives are classic, but you can also use onlive oil only or refine with mozzarella or onions. It eventually will become almost like a pizza.
We use metal rings and make small portions. It looks very nice and you can make different variations at the same time.
Culinamus
We like to use ‘Herbs de Provence’ and candied tomatoes for our Culinamus Focaccia.
Preparation
(15 minutes + 1 hour at room temperature and over night in the fridge)
– Prepare flour, yeast, salt, oil and water
– Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl (food processor).
– Stir on a low speed for 2-3 minutes
– Set speed to medium and beat until dough reaches 23-24 degrees.
– Leave to rise at room temperature for 1 hour
– Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge overnight.
Cooking
(1 hour)
– Divide the dough into balls of 75g. This size is ideal for metal rings with a diameter of 7 cm
– grease the metal rings.
– Cover a baking tray with baking paper and place the rings on it.
– Flatten the balls of dough and put them in the rings
– Leave to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
– Optionally, you can – after this half hour – put the baking tray in the fridge and only continue when needed (after a few hours).
– Preheat the oven to 220 degrees (Convection)
– Make small cuts in the surface of the dough pieces with scissors and fill them with tomatoes or olives.
– Brush with oil and sprinkle with some salt and herbs
– Bake in the oven for 10 -12 minutes. You can put a small bowl of boiling water in the oven to increase the humidity. Remove the water from the oven after 5 minutes.
– Remove from the rings while still hot and brush with oil again.
And next is…
This is a perfect accompaniment to a summer aperitif. With herbs de Provence, a fine rosé from Provence goes perfectly with it. The Côté Levant from Domaine Le Novi is a treat!
CULINAMUS!
