Olive Ladder Bread (Fougasse)

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Title: Olive Ladder Bread (Fougasse)
Categories: Breads
Yield: 1 servings

2 1/2 c Lukewarm water
1 ts Dry yeast
6 c Unbleached all purpose flour
(6 to 7)
2 tb Olive oil plus extra for
-oiling
Surfaces
2 ts Salt
1 1/2 c Pitted and chopped black
-olives
(nyons or
Kalamata)
1/4 c Buckwheat flour

Recipe by: BAKER'S DOZEN SHOW #BD1A29 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

=============== Reply 80 of Note 1 =================

Board: FOOD BB Topic: FOOD SOFTWARE Subject: Z - TVFN (50 OR SO)

To: TMVM93B SHARON KLINGER Date: 11/15 From: TMVM93B
SHARON KLINGER Time: 0:59 AM

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