Easy Sourdough Fougasse Recipe
A delicious and easy sourdough fougasse recipe. It's baked until golden and topped with coarse salt and herbs. This recipe makes 2.
Ingredients
Sourdough starter
- 20 g starter
- 40 g flour
- 40 g water
Fougasse
- 420 g all-purpose flour or bread flour with a protein level of at least 11%
- 300 g water
- all the sourdough starter around 100g
- 20 g olive oil
- 7 g salt
Toppings
- 3 Tbsp Olive oil plus extra for brushing after baking
- Coarse salt
- Fresh rosemary and/or thyme
Instructions
Starter
- Mix the starter, flour and water together in a bowl until well combined. Transfer to a clean jar and mark the level with a rubber band or marker so you can see the rise.
- Leave it at room temperature until it has at least doubled and is domed and bubbly. Use it before it peaks and collapses.
Dough
- In a large bowl, mix the flour and water together with a fork or your hands until no dry flour remains. It will be shaggy. Cover and autolyse for 30 minutes.
- Add the ripe starter, salt and olive oil. Squeeze everything together with wet hands until it forms a sticky dough.
- Knead the dough for 5 to 8 minutes, either against the side of the bowl with a wet hand, or by slapping and folding it on an unfloured bench. Do not add extra flour. It is ready when it is noticeably smoother and elastic, and springs back when pressed. Return it to a lightly oiled bowl.
- Over the next hour, perform 2 sets of stretch and folds, spaced about 30 minutes apart. With wet hands, stretch a portion of dough up and fold it over the centre, rotating the bowl and repeating 3 to 4 times per set.
- Cover the bowl and bulk ferment at warm room temperature until the dough has risen by 40 to 50% and is showing some bubbles or signs of activity on top.
- For same day baking, continue to the pre-shape. For an overnight ferment, cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours, then continue the next morning with the cold dough.
Divide and pre-shape
- Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it in half. Each piece will be around 420g. Fold the edges of each piece into the centre, flip over, and shape into a loose round. Rest for 30 minutes.
Shape
- Line two baking trays with baking paper and brush the paper generously with olive oil. Transfer a round of dough onto each with a bench scraper.
- Dust the tops with flour and use your fingertips to press each piece into a rectangle or oval around 25cm (10 inches) long.
- Make two cuts in a line down the centre of each piece, one in the upper half and one in the lower, leaving 3 to 4cm of uncut dough between them and stopping around 3cm short of the top and bottom edges. This bridge of dough in the middle holds the fougasse together, so don't join the two cuts up.
- Make 2 to 3 shorter cuts on each side, angled outwards from the centre line like the veins of a leaf, stopping about 3cm before the outer edge. Every cut must go all the way through the dough to the paper.
- With oiled hands, gently pull the cuts open, working from the centre outwards and pulling sideways. Open them wider than you think you need to.
- Cover the trays loosely with a tea towel and leave to rise until noticeably puffy. Same day dough will take 1 to 2 hours. Dough from the fridge will take 2 to 3 hours or longer, as it needs to come up to temperature first.
Top and bake
- Preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F).
- Brush the first fougasse with olive oil and scatter the thyme leaves over. Lay the rosemary on top of the thyme, pressing the larger pieces down into the dough.
- Drizzle a little more olive oil over the rosemary then sprinkle with coarse salt.
- Bake the first tray for 18 to 22 minutes, until deeply golden. For a little extra oven spring, you can optionally add 1 to 2 ice cubes to a tray on a lower rack as the fougasse goes into the oven.
- Straight out of the oven, brush the surface with a little more olive oil and scatter over half the finely chopped fresh rosemary. It will be very crisp from the oven and will soften a little as it cools.
- Top and bake the second tray the same way. If your kitchen is warm, keep the second tray in the fridge while the first bakes and bring it out just before topping.
- Serve warm or at room temperature, torn into pieces.
Notes
Storage. Best on the day it's baked. Keep in a paper bag at room temperature for up to 2 days and refresh in a 180°C (350°F) oven for 5 minutes. Freezes for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1servingCalories: 71kcalCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 0.5gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gSodium: 273mgPotassium: 4mgFiber: 0.1gSugar: 0.01gCalcium: 2mgIron: 0.2mg
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