What do you do with a large, and I mean very large bunch of dill that you used only 1 tablespoon of for making Fresh Herb, Leek and Potato Soup?
Why, you make dill bread, or, at least you think about making dill bread. Then you realize that you have to shower and get dressed in order to go out and buy cream cheese, then you realize you will then have to wait for the cream cheese to get to room temperature before you can use it. Then you read through the recipe again and realize there isn't enough time to do all that and let the bread properly rise, proof and bake before you really do have to shower and go to work. You get a little sad. You make a silent promise to pick up the cream cheese on your way home from work later that evening so that you can make the bread before the large bunch of dill becomes a large pool of wet slimey greenish/black liquid in your fridge. You finish your morning coffee while flipping through the book to find something else to bake in the meantime. You find the recipe for Fougasse interesting, the picture appeals to you, and you are pleased because it is a bread that is traditionally baked around this time of year. You are cheering up again. You realise you won't have to shower and run out for any ingredients before you really do have to shower for the day (not that you're that dirty, but you know what I mean), you already have everything on hand. You can see that you will be able to complete the baking with enough time for cleanup, and, you can bring one of the loaves to work for the locusts co-workers to try. You are pleased.
You do the happy dance.
I can't wait to try my hand at growing things in the dirt once spring arrives. Not that I'm trying to rush through the rest of this fall and winter but I'm really looking forward to starting my first garden. Judging by the condition that my spider plants are in, I can already predict that I lack a green thumb, but I will try anyway. I really want to start an herb garden first; just to see if gardening is for me and also, an herb garden would solve the problem of having to buy large bunches of expensive herbs just for a tablespoon of earth's goodness. I hate how these herbs just end up rotting away in the fridge before I can use all of them up, with a little herb garden I could pinch off what I need, give away what I don't and basically feel less like I'm wasting the herbs and money and more like I'm getting exactly the amount I need when I need it. Speaking of gardening, my friend Cathy (Hi Cathy!) sent me a super secret surprise-some really neat gardening books which I just so happened to receive in the mail while I was baking the bread, so now I have even more reason and am more eager to start a garden soon. So, because I was too lazy to shower and run out early in the morning I ended up not making the dill bread, which I intended to be the project for using up the large bunch of dill that is currently dying in my fridge. I will try to make it later this week, In the meantime, let's talk about the Fougasse.
I've seen loaves of this bread on occasion, at the artisan bakeries here in the city and in Brooklyn. I've always thought they were pretty but never bought one and never paid attention to what time of year I saw them in the shops. According to the authors of the book Ultimate Bread Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno claim this is a holiday bread, traditional to Christmas Eve celebrations in the Provencal region of France;
The branch-shaped bread forms the centerpiece of the famous thirteen desserts of Provence, which are traditional to the Reveillon (Christmas Eve) celebrations of the region. After Midnight Mass, families return home for a glass of vin chaud and a selection of twelve fruits, nuts, and sweets arranged around the fougasse, symbolizing Christ and his apostles. Unsweetened and un-perfumed, although often flavored with savory ingredients, Fougasse is now baked throughout the year.
I almost messed the dough up from the beginning by adding too much water, but I refuse to say that it was my fault. The instructions were actually a little vague. Overall the recipe uses 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of water as needed but it's written in a way that made me think it was 3/4 cups water for the yeast AND an additional 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons for the dough. Luckily, I was suspicious of the wetness of the dough before adding all the water, I re-read the instructions and realized my boo-boo before ending up with dough that was like batter, so beware that confusing step. I was also tempted from the start, to add more sugar and the zest of an orange to the mixture but then decided to follow the recipe the way it was written since I'd never tried this bread before. I can always tweak once I have something to gage my preferences by, in the end I decided it was best not to mess with the recipe before I knew what the bread tasted like. My experiences with the breads in this book have been that the flavors tend to be a little on the conservative side, but then again, I'm also pregnant and everything kind of needs to be overly seasoned for me right now. Speaking of pregnant, for some reason, the baby found the time I was kneading the bread to be a good opportunity to wiggle and squirm and tickle me for the whole 10 minutes... maybe she likes kneading bread too! heh.
Shaping the bread was not easy, but it wasn't overly difficult either. The authors suggest letting the bread rest for a minute or 2 if you have trouble with it and I'm here to tell you that the advice works. I think the best way to approach the shaping is with calm and patience, I could see myself getting easily freaked out and would have ended up smashing the dough into a ball and flinging it down the toilet or across the room if I had not decided to try and be Zen about it. Being Zen makes all the difference (wax on, wax off), my shaping wasn't perfect but at least it kind of resembled something close to the tear shape the authors described. I think shaping bread takes practice, especially if you don't have a master baker standing next to you teaching you, so don't become frustrated, just let the dough rest and walk away for a few minutes before you try again. It works.
There's a tool that bakers use to slash dough, which for the life of me I cannot remember the name of. I guess it doesn't matter right now because I don't have one but if anyone knows the name of it please tell me because it's driving me crazy. To slash my dough, I used kitchen scissors and it worked rather well, actually making the slashes and spreading the dough was kind of fun, with some practice shaping the bread I think I could one day actually make a nice looking loaf.
I stopped off at the market on the way to work and bought some orange marmalade to go with the bread. I ended up bringing in both loaves and the locusts loved it. Almost everyone preferred the bread without the marmalade so now I have a nice jar of marmalade sitting in the fridge. You know, it's amazing how something as simple as baking a couple of loaves of bread can be so inexpensive and yet make so many people happy. The bread looked like it would be hard to bite into but it wasn't! It was soft and fragrant and tasted of anise and wasn't sweet even though there was sugar in the dough. The crust was to die for, sort of soft but crispy at the same time and reminded me a little of focaccia crust. It was great!
from Ultimate Bread by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno;
1.Sprinkle the yeast into 3/4 cup (175 ml) of the water in a bowl. Leave for 5 minutes; stir to dissolve. Mix the flour, salt, sugar and anise seeds in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture, then pour in the dissolved yeast.
2.Use a wooden spoon to draw enough of the flour into the dissolved yeast to form a soft paste. Cover the bowl with a dish towel and "sponge" until frothy and risen, about 20 minutes.
3.Add the oil and orange flower water to the flour well. Mix in the flour. Stir in the reamining water, as needed, to form a soft dough.
4.Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
5.Put the dough in a clean, oiled bowl, turning it to coat evenly with the oil, then cover it with a dish towel. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down, then let rest for 10 minutes.
6. Divide the dough into two pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, use th palms of your hands to flatten each piece into a tear shape, about 14in (35cm) long and 3/4in (11/2cm) thick. If the dough resists shaping, let rest for 1-2 minutes, then continue.
7.Put the shaped dough on two oiled baking sheets. To form the dough into a leaf shape, make three diagonal slashes across each opiece of the dough. Poen out each slash gently with your fingers.
8.Cover the shaped dough, then proof until an imprint of your finger springs back slowly, about 45 minutes.
9.Bake the the preheated 350 degree oven for 40-46 minutes, until crisp, golden brown, and hollow sounding when gently tapped underneath.
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