1 pk Active dry yeast
1 lb Flour*
250 ml Tepid water
1 ea Egg yolk, beaten
1 lb Belly of pork, diced
2 lb Pork fat, diced
12 tb Dry white wine
*Flour should be a mixture of unbleached white bread flour with 2
generous handfuls of buckwheat flour, sifted together. If you can’t
find the buckwheat flour, don’t worry about it. For the dough: Stir
together the yeast and a handful of flour in enough water to make a
runny batter. Leave for 1 hour. Warm the remaining flour in the oven,
mix in salt and make a well in the middle. Pour in the yeast mixture
and add enough tepid water to make a moist dough. Knead for 10-12
minutes on a lightly floured surface. Leave to rise in a large
floured bowl covered with a dampened cloth. When the dough has
doubled in size, turn out onto a floured work surface, punch down and
flatten the dough out. Add the grattons (see immediately below for
how to make them). Preheat the oven to 450F/250C. For the grattons:
Cook the meat, fat and wine over a *very* gentle heat in a heavy
covered saucepan. Press down on the meat several times during cooking
to render up as much fat as possible. After 1 1/2 – 2 hours, pour the
liquid off through a strainer. (It can be used instead of olive oil
for cooking, and often was, in Provencal cooking.) Crisp the diced
meat over higher heat, straining off any liquid fat when necessary.
To make the fougasse, make the bread dough, and after the first
rising mixin the grattons. Then, with a knife, cut through the dough
first one way, then another. Reform into a ball and repeat. Gather
the pieces together into a mass, divine in two and form into two flat
loaves, slashed straight through their thickness in numerous places.
Spread the holes wider with your fingers. (You are striving for an
effect like a flat sheet of bread with holes like those of a slice of
swiss cheese.) Brush the top with the egg yolk and bake on a hot
metal sheet fgor 30-35 minutes until crisp and golden. Serve warm
with a bitter salad like endive or dandelion. NB: this is a very rich
bread ++ more like a salty shortbread than anything else. But *very*
good.
Yields
8 Servings