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OLIVE LADDER BREAD (Fougasse)
Recipe By : BAKER'S DOZEN SHOW #BD1A29
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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2 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 teaspoon dry yeast
6 cups unbleached all purpose flour -- (6 to 7)
2 tablespoons olive oil plus extra for oiling surfaces
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups pitted and chopped black olives (Nyons or
Kalamata)
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
You will need a large bread bowl, four 10- by 15- inch or larger baking
sheets that will fit in pairs
side-by-side in your oven, a sharp knife or razor blade, and a pastry brush.
Place water in a large bowl, sprinkle on yeast, then stir in 2 1/2 cups of
the all purpose flour. Stir
100 times in the same direction (one minute) to develop the gluten, then
leave this sponge
covered with plastic wrap for 30 minutes or up to two hours.Stir in olive
oil, salt, olives, and
buckwheat flour. Mix in remaining flour, a cup at a time, stirring always in
the same direction,
until dough becomes too stiff to stir. Turn dough out onto a well floured
working surface. Using
floured hands, knead gently until the dough has an even consistency (apart
from the olives), then
knead 5 minutes longer. Clean bread bowl, oil it lightly, place dough in the
bowl, then cover with
plastic wrap. Let rise for 2 to 3 hours. It will have almost doubled in volume.
Oil two 10 by 15 inch (or larger) baking sheets. Flatten dough down gently
with your hands, then
turn out onto floured working surface. Cut dough in half, return half to the
bread bowl and cover.
Divide remaining half in two. Knead each half into a ball and then flatten
gently with the palm of
your hand. Let stand five minutes to rest. Working with each piece in turn,
flatten out with your
palms into a rectangle or oval about 10 inches long and 5 to 6 inches wide.
It will be about 1/2 to
3/4 inch thick. Transfer each to a lightly oiled baking sheet at least 14
inches long. Let loaves
rise for 20 to 30 minutes, covered with a damp towel or plastic wrap.
Preheat oven to 400
degrees and set rack at the center of the oven or just above. (If your
baking sheets do not fit
side-by-side on one rack, place two racks in oven, one just above the center
and one just below.
One bread can go on each rack; about halfway through baking (after 10 to 12
minutes), switch
the two around.) Just before placing in the oven, use a sharp knife or razor
blade to make cuts
through the breads: Starting two inches from the top and about an inch from
the side, cut across
the bread to within an inch of the other side. Make two more cuts, parallel
to the first, at about 2
inch intervals (the cuts should go all the way through the dough). The dough
will separate at
each cut, so that the bread looks like a kind of fat-runged ladder; you can
pull dough apart even
more if you wish and if your baking sheets are long enough, by pulling
gently on each end of the
breads to make the slits gape more. Brush each loaf lightly with olive oil
all over, place in the
oven, and bake for 20 minutes. Breads will be golden when done.
Once first two loaves are in the oven, oil two more baking sheets, then
flatten remaining dough,
divide into two, and repeat steps required to form loaves. Breads should
almost have finished
rising by the time the first batch comes out of the oven.
Yield: 4 loaves
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