Ingredients:
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 cups water
Cornmeal
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions:
1. Sift whole-wheat flour through fine-mesh strainer into bowl (bowl of stand mixer if you own one).
2. Add all purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, and yeast.
3. Add water.
4. If you are using a stand mixer, fit stand with dough hook, knead on low speed until dough forms - 5-7 minutes.
If you do not have a stand mixer, use a regular mixer and beat on low speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
5. Lightly oil a large bowl.
6. Transfer dough to large oiled bowl.
7. Cover with plastic wrap.
8. Let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
9. Holding edge of dough with fingers, fold dough over itself. Gently lift up from the edge and fold edge of dough towards center.
10. Turn bowl 45 degrees and fold again.
11. Turn bowl 45 degrees and fold again 6 more times. Dough will be folded over itself for a total of eight times. 1st set of folding and turning.
12. Cover with plastic wrap.
13. Let rise for 30 minutes.
14. Fold and turn dough 8x - 2nd set of fold and turn.
15. Cover with plastic wrap.
16. Let rise for 30 minutes.
17. Fold and turn dough 8x - 3rd set of fold and turn
18. Cover with plastic wrap.
19. Let rise for 30 minutes.
20. Fold and turn dough 8x - 4th set of fold and turn.
21. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap.
22. Refrigerate for 16 to 48 hours.
23. Do not deflate dough.
24. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter, stretch gently to 8-inch round - do not deflate.
25. Divide in half.
26. Working with one half, form to 8 inch disk.
27. Lightly flour a rimmed baking sheet.
28. Place dough circle on lightly floured baking sheet.
29. Do the same for the second half - form to 8 inch disk and place on the same rimmed baking sheet.
30. Spray plastic wrap with oil, and cover the dough.
31. Let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
32. Place baking stone on lower-middle rack and heat oven to 450 degrees.
33. Take two rimmed baking sheets and turn them upside down.
34. Line upside down rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
35. Sprinkle cornmeal on each piece of parchment paper.
36. Transfer one piece of dough to lightly floured counter.
37. Using a rolling pin, gently shape into 8 inch round disk.
38. Transfer dough to parchment paper on upside down rimmed baking sheet.
39. Using a pizza cutter, cut a total of five 2-inch elongated ovals - about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches from edge. Make sure the 5 cuts are evenly spaced to make a star shaped pattern.
40. Gently stretch dough out to a 10-inch circle.
41. While stretching dough out, also stretch out the cuts to emphasize and widen the cuts into elongated ovals..
42. You should now have a 10-inch circle with 5 cuts that make a star shaped pattern.
43. Cover loosely with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with oil.
44. Let sit for 30 to 45 minutes or until double in size.
45. After 20 minutes, begin working on the second loaf, following steps 36-44.
46. After loaf has set for 30-45 minutes and doubled in size, brush top of loaf with 2 teaspoons olive oil.
47. Transfer loaf with parchment paper onto baking stone.
48. Bake until golden brown - 18 to 22 minutes.
49. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 10-15 minutes.
50. Enjoy!!
51. This is really good bread, but don't forget that Jesus is the Bread of Life!!
Mark's Story -
Captiva, Florida was a favorite place for our family to vacation when I was a kid. I had never seen a sand dollar before. I thought the sand dollars were super cool. On Sanibel and Captiva, they are fairly easy to find. So, when I saw this recipe, at first, I was thinking that I didn't want to try to make a Fougasse bread. It's quite complicated and involved and takes several days. There are other simpler bread recipes that I can make. Then I turned the page and saw the fougasse bread shaped into a sand dollar. I had a Ratatouille moment - you know that moment in the movie Ratatouille when the food critic is served Ratatouille for his dinner, he has a flashback as a kid and eating Ratatouille. Yeah, I had one of those moments when I saw the Sand Dollar Fougasse Bread and I decided that I had to try to make this. So, just recently, my parents were vacationing down there and I practiced making this bread while they were there, so that I could make a second batch when they got back.
Mark's Notes -
The original recipe also calls for 2 tablespoons of fresh cut rosemary and an additional 1 teapsoon sea salt. These two extra items would be added in step 46 after brushing with olive oil.
I watched several youtube videos on how to make Fougasse Bread just to hear the correct pronunciation. From what I could tell, it is pronounced Foo-guess.
