Friday, May 11, 2012

FFwD - Provencal Olive Fougasse



This week's French Fridays with Dorie brought another surprise hit for me - Provencal Olive Fougasse, a French bread from the Provence region flavoured with olives and rosemary, and shaped by slashing the dough. 

I am not a bread girl to start with, so the thought of making a savoury bread appealed to me even less.  However, this bread is special - it is light and airy, more like a flaky pastry than a bread to me.  The olives and rosemary are a beautiful flavour combination, and the salt sprinkled on top of the bread before baking adds a special touch.

I pulled off a piece of this while it was still warm, and liked it so much that I had another piece straight away.  It is a delightful bread, perfect for a dinner party or a picnic.  The only drawback is the length of time that it takes - 7 hours all up rising and resting time.  However, once that it over with, it is very simple to make.

To see what the  other FFwD members thought of this bread, visit the LYL section of the FFwD website.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a good recipe. Looks yummy!

Unknown said...

I keep saying that but I REALLY need to get that book, this looks delicious!!

Cher Rockwell said...

This bread was definitely at its best warm... and anything with olives is worth giving a shot in my book :-)

Have a great weekend.

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

This looks wonderful Cakelaw! It's one of my favourite breads :)

Rose said...

I'm out this week and I have a feeling that I'm going to be regretting it more with each post I read. I do love Fougasse, but I don't have an electric mixer and I just couldn't bring myself to do this by hand.

Blond Duck said...

I 'm w/ you-- I used to love bread, but I'm not into it that much anymore.

Johanna GGG said...

I could love on savoury bread - I love the stuff - this looks fab and I am glad you enjoyed it and didn't waste all that effort and time (though I am sure it could have gone to a good home if you didn't like it)

Kathy said...

Your bread looks lovely! Truly a delicious treat…that I will make again and again! Have a great weekend!

Elaine said...

I thought it tasted best warm as well. I'm glad that you enjoyed this one. I also did, but my husband not so much. Your fougasse looks beautiful.

yummychunklet said...

Agreed, warm is best for this bread. Yours looks delicious!

Betsy said...

Perfect for a picnic, indeed! It's funny that I thought because this could rise in the fridge that it wasn't very time-consuming and fit well into my schedule (which doesn't accommodate other bread recipes well). Hope you have a great weekend, maybe including a picnic!

The Caked Crusader said...

I adore olives in bread - when I worked in switzerland they would put olives and finely chopped gherkins in the bread dough and it was divine!

Unknown said...

Yes this flat bread was especially good warm out of the oven! This was a recipe that I've been wanting to try for quite some time and I wasn't disappointed!

Kayte said...

I love making this kind of bread...need to try Dorie's recipe for it soon. Yours looks just beautiful and I love your description of it. I didn't know you weren't a bread person...for some reason I missed that all these posts! I am in love with making bread...it is so relaxing and wonderful that it is my favorite form of baking (and maybe because it rarely involves chocolate...lol!).