Fougasse Bread with Orange, Sage and Olive Oil
It's time to bake bread again! I use a recipe which involves sage and my beloved blood oranges, they'll be out of season soon, so I'm using every possible occasion that allows me to cook or bake with my sweet citrus fruits. I mix generous amounts of their zest and juice into the dough and the result is impressive!
My bread is a light and aromatic Fougasse, a French flatbread very popular in Provence where it's often made with olives, herbs and cheese. It's similar to the Italian Focaccia but with a leaf pattern of cuts in the dough. In some recipes, the cut goes all the way through creating holes in the bread while it's baking which makes the bread harder. I prefer to leave mine juicy with shallow cuts on the surface. Besides the orange and sage I add good olive oil in and on the bread. I use the wonderful extra virgin olive oil from the Molise region which I got from Marilena. Its strong and fruity taste is just what my Mediterranean flatbread needs!
I already have a great idea for a sandwich I can make with this bread for tomorrow's Sandwich Wednesday!
Fougasse with Orange, Sage and Olive Oil
For 6 flatbreads you need
plain flour 400g / 14 ounces (I use spelt flour type 630 but you can use any other plain flour)
dry yeast 1 package (for 500g / 1 pound flour)
salt 1 teaspoon
fresh sage, chopped, 8-10 leaves
zest of 1 medium sized orange
freshly squeezed blood orange or orange juice 100ml
water, lukewarm, 100ml
olive oil 5 tablespoons plus more for brushing the bread
organic egg 1
Combine the flour, yeast, salt, orange zest and sage in a large bowl. Add the water, orange juice and egg and mix with your dough hooks for 5 minutes. On a floured surface, continue kneading with your hands for a few minutes until you have an elastic dough ball. Put the dough back into the bowl and cover with a tea towel. Let the dough rise in a 35°C / 95°F warm oven for 45 minutes. This works really well but make sure that your oven is set to top/ bottom heat and not to fan.
Take the dough out and punch it down. Divide it into 6 pieces and roll them out into egg shaped discs (on a floured working surface, around 1 1/2 cm / 1/2″ thick). Put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cover with a tea towel and let them rise for 20 minutes.
Set your oven to 210°C / 410°F.
Brush the flatbread with olive oil and cut a pattern of 6-8 diagonal slashes into the dough to make a leaf pattern. Bake the flatbread on the lowest level for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Take them out and let them cool for 2 minutes.
I cut the warm flatbread in half and drizzled some more olive oil over it, it merged perfectly with the orange and sage aromas!
