Did you know that foccacia and fougasse are distant cousins? The word fougasse comes from the Old Occitan word fogatza. And this word originated from the Latin word focacia, which means “baked in the oven”. Fougasse originally comes from Provence and is the French equivalent of Italian focaccia. I’m showing you a very classic version today, but you can mix anything into the dough for your fougasse that you also like on your focaccia: Olives, herbs, ( plant-based) bacon, tomatoes or cheese. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
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Why you’ll love sourdough fougasse
The French fougasse in the classic leaf shape not only looks great. It has a crispy crust and a light, open crumb. The dough contains no industrial yeast and is only leavened with sourdough. The fougasse is especially aromatic thanks to a particularly long and two-stage fermentation. For me, this bread is the perfect addition to a barbecue and a special gift for your host.
More summer breads
The perfect bread for a barbecue should be crispy on the outside and soft enough on the inside to soak up sauces and dips. It should also be easy to portion without a knife and should be visually appealing. And of course, if it brings back vacation memories, that doesn’t hurt either! These criteria are not only met by this fougasse with sourdough, but also by twisted bread with nuts, fresh baguettes (including the spelt version) or an Italian (spelt) focaccia.
You’ll need these ingredients
- Wheat flour: The best flour for fougasse is bread flour or wheat flour 550.
- Water: Cold in summer and lukewarm in winter.
- Sourdough starter: The sourdough doesn’t have to be freshly fed, but it shouldn’t have been more than a week since it was last refreshed. If you have discard left over, I have the right recipes for you here. I feed my sourdough with equal parts water and flour. For the flour, I use a mixture of wheat flour and wholegrain rye flour. If you feed your sourdough with a different water-to-flour ratio, you will need to adjust the amount of water in the recipe accordingly.
- Olive oil, virgin.
- Salt for the flavour.
In three steps: How to make French bread with sourdough
Preparing the dough
For the pre-dough, mix* 200 g water with 200 g wheat flour and 50 g sourdough starter. Cover the dough and leave to rest at room temperature for four hours.
Mix the remaining flour, water, oil and salt into the dough, cover and leave to rest for a further four to six hours. After the first 30 minutes, stretch and fold once and repeat the process three to four times. Then place the dough in the fridge overnight.
Shaping the fougasse
Carefully transfer the dough onto a floured work surface and cut into two equal pieces using a dough scraper*.
Place the dough pieces on a baking tray and carefully pull apart. Press as little air out of the dough as possible.
Use a dough scraper* to cut a leaf pattern into the dough and carefully pull the dough further open. Leave the fougasse to rest at room temperature for a another hour.
Bake the bread until crispy
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees using a steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven dish* and lava stones*.
Reduce the heat to 230 degrees and bake the fougasse for 10 minutes with steam and 10 minutes without steam until crispy.
Helpful tools – My recommendations
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- A grain mill* for freshly ground wholemeal flour.
- A Danish Whisk* – especially if you don’t use a kitchen machine. This allows you to mix your ingredients without the whole dough sticking to the spoon.
- A kitchen scale*.
- You can use a stainless steel dough knife* to cut your dough pieces or shape your loaves.
- A steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven mould* and lava stones*. The tray is filled with the stones and placed on the bottom of the oven during preheating. When you put your bread in the oven, pour hot water onto the stones. This creates steam, which ensures that your bread rises well.
- Baking steel* to make your bread, rolls and pizza nice and crispy.
- A cooling rack* for bread, rolls and waffles.
- A sharp bread knife*.
- A stainless steel toaster* for slices of bread, toast and rolls.
You can find more product recommendations here.
More focaccia and flatbreads with sourdough
Homemade Sourdough Pita Bread
In summer, we serve lots of fresh vegetables from the garden. With a few falafel, delicious dips and fresh pita bread, this is the perfect summer dish. Homemade pita bread tastes much better than shop-bought bread and is quick and easy to make. You can mix the dough…
Pinsa Romana – Crispy Sourdough Flatbread with Toppings
Pinsa has experienced a real hype in recent years. For a long time, it was considered the original form of pizza, but this later turned out to be a clever marketing coup. In its current form, the Pinsa Romana was only invented in Rome in 2001. However, the basic…
Easy Sourdough Pizza Crust Recipe – Overnight
With this recipe you will make sourdough pizza that is so good, it could be from your favorite Italian Pizzeria: with a thin base and a crispy crust that is full of aroma. The dough doesn’t need any yeast and develops its taste through a long rest over night in the…
Recipe: Easy Sourdough Fougasse Overnight
Ingredients
- 500 g wheat flour
- 375 g water
- 50 g sourdough starter
- 1½ tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
Instructions
Day 1
- For the pre-dough, mix* 200 g water with 200 g wheat flour and 50 g sourdough starter. Cover the dough and leave to rest at room temperature for four hours.
- Mix the remaining flour, water, oil and salt into the dough, cover and leave to rest for a further four to six hours. After the first 30 minutes, stretch and fold once and repeat the process three to four times. Then place the dough in the fridge overnight.
Day 2
- Carefully transfer the dough onto a floured work surface and cut into two equal pieces using a dough scraper*.
- Place the dough pieces on a baking tray and carefully pull apart. Press as little air out of the dough as possible.
- Use a dough scraper* to cut a leaf pattern into the dough and carefully pull the dough further open. Leave the fougasse to rest at room temperature for a another hour.
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees using a steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven dish* and lava stones*.
- Reduce the heat to 230 degrees and bake the fougasse for 10 minutes with steam and 10 minutes without steam until crispy.
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