Olive Ladder Bread Fougasse Food

FOUGASSE

Steps:

• Put the flour in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, sprinkle the yeast over 1/4-cup/60 ml warm water. Stir 1/4-cup/60 g flour from the large bowl into the yeast to make a paste. Let sit until it starts to foam, about 10 minutes.
• Make a well in the flour. Crack in the eggs, and add the salt, oil, and chopped rosemary. Pour in 1/4-cup/60 ml water and mix. Finally, add the yeast starter to combine, and gradually draw in the flour to make dough. Add the olives and knead into smooth dough. Place in a bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place 1 hour.
• Punch down the dough and roll into a thin rectangle, using a rolling pin. Place on a baking sheet. Cook's Note: You can scatter cornmeal underneath if you like.
• Cut three slits down each side, to give the bread a leaf look. Separate the slits with your fingers to make long holes. Let the bread rise 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Whisk together the egg and water, if using. Brush the top of the bread with the egg wash, then bake until risen and golden, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, and let cool 10 minutes at least before serving.

GORGONZOLA AND WALNUT FOUGASSE

Steps:

• Place a baking stone in the middle of the oven and preheat to 470 degrees F.
• On a lightly floured work surface, cut the dough into 4 equal pieces with a bench scraper.
• Using your fingertips, flatten the dough pieces. Transfer 1 of the pieces to the back of a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and lightly dusted with cornmeal. Cover generously with walnuts and Gorgonzola and top with another piece of dough. Press down on the edges to seal. Using a small palette knife, cut 8 evenly spaced holes in the dough. Stretch the dough to enlarge the holes. Lightly brush the fougasse with olive oil and cover lightly with plastic wrap. Place the loaf in a warm place and let rise for 30 minutes. Repeat to make 1 more loaf.
• Working with 1 loaf a time, slide the fougasse, still on the parchment paper, onto the baking stone. Bake until crispy and brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the fougasse to a rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining loaf.
• Pate Fermentee just means "old dough". "Old dough?", you say. Well, this old dough is basically a starter that is made the day before, and cuts down on the time you eventually spend in the kitchen. Nothing wrong with that. It also makes the bread last longer, gives it a slightly acidic and subtly complex flavor, and helps the inside of the bread form tiny irregular holes that are a sign of great artisanal bread (called "crumb" in baker-speak).
• If you can, try weighing out the ingredients, instead of using measuring cups and spoons-it's much more accurate.
• Use this dough to make Scali, an Italian sesame seed-crusted bread, or Gorgonzola and Walnut Fougasse-or both.
• 1 recipe refrigerated Pate Fermentee (1 3/4 pounds), recipe follows
• 1 1/2 cups minus 1 tablespoon 80 degree F. water (.71 pound)
• 3 1/2 cups unbleached, unbromated all-purpose flour (1 pound)
• 1 teaspoon minus 1/16 teaspoon instant dry yeast (2.8 grams)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt (9 grams)
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the pate fermentee and water and, using your hands, break up the dough into the water.
• In another bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the pate fermentee mixture and mix by hand until firm and cohesive, about 3 minutes. Allow dough to rest for 10 minutes.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough until very elastic and smooth, about 10 to 15 minutes. Take the dough's temperature. It should be at 78 degrees F. Transfer the dough to a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap (the plastic should not touch the dough). Place the bowl in a warm place (about 75 to 78 degrees F.) and let rise for a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes. After the first 45 minutes, fold the dough and turn it over in the bowl. (It will somewhat deflate the dough, but it is gentler than what's commonly referred to as "punching down.")
• Let the dough rise, undisturbed, for 1 hour more. (The dough will rise considerably at this point.)
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Press the dough gently into a rectangle, to degas it.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and yeast. Add the water and, using your hands, mix until incorporated, about 3 minutes. (Alternatively, mix in a mixer on the lowest setting possible.) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and put in a warm place (about 75 degrees F.). Let the dough ferment for 1 hour. Take the dough's temperature. It should be at 75 degrees F.
• Refrigerate the dough at least 10 hours and up to 36 hours. When ready, it will be roughly doubled in size and have a fine network of filaments and holes. Make this recipe the night before you mix the dough.

OLIVE BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In the bowl of a standing mixing michine, whisk the yeast with the water and milk. Let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes, or until the yeast has dissolved. Whisk in the sugar, 1/2 cup of cornmeal and tapenade. Add the flour. Using a dough hook and the machine on low, mix until the dough starts to come together. Increase the speed and continue mixing until the dough comes away from the sides and crawls up the dough hook. Turn the dough out into a greased bowl and cover. Let the dough rise until double in size. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, punch down and divide the dough in half. Shape each half into individual loaves. Sprinkle the baking sheet with the remaining cornmeal. Place the loaves on the baking sheet. Cover the loaves and let the dough rise until double in size. Using a sharp knife, make several slits across the top of the loaves. Bake the loaves for about 35 to 40 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Serve the hot bread with olive oil, Proscuitto, cheese and basil.

ROSEMARY FOUGASSE

Steps:

• Mix the dough according to the instructions given in the recipe.
• After the dough has taken its first rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours (or overnight) it can be shaped into a fougasse. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and pat it into a long narrow rectangle. Sprinkle a layer of chopped rosemary over the surface of the dough being careful to cover the edges too. Fold the dough in thirds like a business letter, the top third over the middle of the dough, then the bottom third over that, completely overlapping the two. Press the 3 open sides of the fougasse tightly shut. Cover the bread well with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 2 hours.
• Thirty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Place a baking stone in the oven to preheat and position an oven rack just below the stone.
• Sprinkle a peel or upsidedown baking sheet generously with cornmeal and place the fougasse on top, stretching it slightly to make it into a square. Cut a decorative pattern, such as a leaf or a ladder, into the dough with a dough cutter. Spread and stretch the loaf until the cuts form large openings.
• Be sure the fougasse is loosened from the peel, then carefully slide it onto the baking stone. Using a plant sprayer, quickly mist the bread with water 8 to 10 times, then quickly shut oven door. Mist again after 1 minute. Then mist again 1 minute later.
• Bake for about 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 450 degrees and bake 15 minutes longer or until the loaf sounds slightly hollow when tapped on the bottom and the crust is a medium to dark brown. (If the crust is not brown enough, the bread will soften as it cools.) Transfer the bread to a rack to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

OLIVE FOUGASSE (RUSTIC BREAD) -- ABM

Steps:

• Combine the yeast, flour, sugar, salt, milk, water and olive oil in the bread machine pan and process on the dough setting. At the end of the cycle, turn out the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead in the olives. Turn the bread pan over the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.
• Divide the dough into two equal pieces and roll each piece into an 8x10" rectangle. Place each rectangle on a parchment paper covered baking sheet. Make two rows of 6 to 8 evenly spaced diagonal slashes, leaving 1" at the border and in between the rows, cutting all the way through the dough. Open these slits by pulling them well apart with your hands (this traditional pattern looks like a leaf.) Coat the flatbreads with olive oil and set aside to rise until the dough is puffed, about 20 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F.
• When loaves are puffy, bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on a rack.

FOUGASSE (OLIVE BREAD)

Steps:

• In a 3-qt (or larger) bowl, combine water, yeast, salt, sugar and olive oil. Stir in flour with a wooden spoon, or in a heavy-duty stand mixer with dough hook, just until all the flour is incorporated; do not knead. Let stand at room temperature 2 hours, or until it rises then collapses. (Dough may be used at this point, or refrigerated for up to 5 days.).
• Place an empty broiler tray or baking pan in the oven and preheat oven to 400°F
• Divide dough in half and work with one piece at a time. Form the dough into a ball, then flatten to about 1/2" thickness on a heavily-floured work surface. (This dough needs to be drier than most to hold the cut shapes, so keep that in mind when adding bench flour.) Sprinkle with half the olives, then roll up jelly-roll-fashion. Form into a ball, then into a flat oval. Slice angled slits into the dough, then gently pull them open. Transfer to a greased cookie sheet and brush with more olive oil. Let rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.
• Place the cookie sheet on a rack in the middle of the oven. Pour 1 cup hot water into the empty broiler pan and quickly close the oven door. Bake 20-25 minutes, until puffy and golden brown (the crust will not get crackly hard because of the oil).
• Repeat with remaining dough and remaining olives.