Super Fougasse Bread Recipe

Fougasse is another of those excellent regional flatbreads found in many countries; you may be more familiar with focaccia from italy. There are many other similar types of bread as well; hogaza in spain; fogassa in catalonia; fugssa in ligurian even a pizza-style bread fugazza from argentina. All are similar and derive from ancient roman bread called panis focacius, a flatbread cooked in the ashes of the fire. The fougasse hails from southern france, notably from provence where you will find the bread in the boulangerie or even in the local bar on the counter as fougasse makes a great sharing bread as an appetizer. The bread is easily recognizable by the distinct slashes across the dough resembling an ear of wheat. The fougasse dough can be made either by hand or in a mixer using a dough hook. Here in this recipe, the surface of the bread is sprinkled with softened red onion which is purely optional. There are many other varieties and you can see recommendations at the end of this recipe.