THE CHALLENGE
“Fougasse is a flatbread and belongs to the same family as focaccia. Traditionally, before home ovens were introduced, flatbreads were cooked under the cinders in the hearth – in fact, fougasse comes from the Latin word ‘focus’, which means ‘hearth’. The fougasse’s impressive looks came about because it was customary to mark the harvest each year with a flatbread made from the first cut of wheat, shaped to resemble a wheatsheaf. It’s a great loaf, crunchy on the outside and soft inside. Today, this is one of the first recipes I get students to bake at my cookery school, The Bertinet Kitchen. When the loaves come out of the oven I see everyone wearing what I call the ‘fougasse grin’ – they can’t hide the sheer pride in what they’ve just made.”