Fougasse bread recipe by Richard Bertinet.

Fougasse bread recipe by Richard Bertinet - Telegraph:
Richard Bertinet is an award-winning chef and baker with 30 years of experience, who runs the Bertinet Kitchen cookery school in Bath.
One of his most popular breads to teach to budding breadmakers is a fougasse white flatbread (see recipe).
His other favourites include an olive and lavender, a pesto and oven-dried tomato and a light rye dough with gruyère, cumin seeds and roasted onions.

"When making bread, show the dough who is boss," he says. "Do not be scared of it. You are in charge."
And to really crack a recipe, he suggests that we "keep practising it over and over again".
RICHARD'S TIPS
It is always better to make bread by hand to achieve a lighter loaf.
Give time to the dough. The quicker you make it, the quicker it will go stale.
Be accurate about your quantities. I weigh everything, including my water.
Use a good strong white flour such as Canadian Strong White Flour from Waitrose (www.waitrose.com) and fresh yeast is best. If you use dried, only use half of what is recommended as it is often too strong.
Bake at the hottest oven temperature possible and straight onto a baking stone, ideally made from granite or terracotta, never marble. You can buy granite chopping boards in Sainsbury's that do the trick.
To get a really good crust, where all the flavour is, preheat the oven and spray water very finely inside with 15-20 squirts to create steam. Then load the oven and finish with five more squirts and close the door. Bake the last three to four minutes with the oven door open a fraction to give a crisper crust.
Essential tool: a plastic scraper – an "extension of my hands" – which you cut, scrape and do everything with.

"I teach people to make a fougasse because it is simple and yet so impressive looking with a texture that is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside."
INGREDIENTS
500g (1lb 2oz) strong bread flour
350ml (12 fl oz) water
10g (1 heaped tsp) yeast (fresh if possible)
or 5g (½ level tsp) dry
10g (1 level tsp) sea salt
Makes 4
Preheat oven to its highest level.
Rub the yeast into the flour (or mix in if using dried yeast). Add the remaining ingredients and the water. Mix for a couple of minutes until the dough starts to form.
Transfer the dough onto your working surface. Continue to mix the ingredients by stretching out the dough and folding it over onto itself.
Keep working the dough until it comes cleanly away from the work surface and is not sticky.
Lightly flour the work surface, place the dough on the flour and form the dough into a ball.
Place the dough into a mixing bowl and cover with a tea towel.
Rest the dough for a minimum of an hour. Turn out gently onto a well-floured surface. Be careful not to deflate it but expect it to spread out to cover a square of your work surface. Generously flour the top of the dough, cover with a clean tea towel and rest for five minutes.
Using a plastic scraper (or a thin wooden spatula), divide the dough into two oblongs then cut each piece again into three roughly triangular strips.
Make 1 large diagonal cut in each piece of dough, making sure you cut right through to the work surface but not through to the corners.
Make 3 smaller diagonal cuts on each side of the central one. Gently open out the holes with your fingers and shake off the excess flour.
Lift onto a lightly floured baking tray and slide onto the hot baking stone or tray in your oven. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.
Variations – before leaving the dough to rest, add halved olives, roasted peppers or onions or press rosemary or thyme leaves into each one before baking.
'Dough: Simple Contemporary Bread' by Richard Bertinet (Kyle Cathie).
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