Fougasse monégasque

Ingredients

Dough

• 600 gplain flour
• 250 mlwarm water
• 10 gdried yeast
• 100 gsugar
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• 100 mlolive oil
• 2eggs
• 4 tablespoonsorange blossom water
• 1 tablespoonaniseed, crushed
• the zest of 1 orange

To top

• 100 gwalnuts, roughly chopped
• 80 gblanched almonds
• 80 gpine nuts
• 100 gred and white sugared aniseed sweets
• or coloured sugared aniseed

To finish

• olive oil, for brushing
• orange blossom water, to sprinkle

Directions

1. Warm the water to just above body temperature. It should feel barely warm to a clean finger. Stir the yeast and a spoon of sugar into it. Let it stand for five minutes until it foams. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the crushed aniseed and orange zest. Whisk them together thoroughly. Combining it needs a light hand.
2. Add the yeasted water to the flour. Beat the eggs and add them in. Add the olive oil and orange blossom water. Bring it together into a soft dough. Turn it out onto a floured surface.
3. Knead it for a good ten minutes. It should become smooth and elastic. Put the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover it over with a clean cloth. Leave it somewhere warm for ninety minutes. It should roughly double in size. Press it out onto an oiled baking tray.
4. Press it into a large flat oval or rectangle. Aim for about two centimetres thick. Press your fingertips into the surface. Make dimples all over the whole thing. They also stop it doming in the oven.
5. Cover it over with a clean cloth. Let it rise for about forty minutes. It should look visibly puffed. Brush the surface generously with olive oil. Sprinkle orange blossom water over it. Press the chopped walnuts into the dimples. Add the almonds and pine nuts. Press them in firmly so they hold. Baking it takes about thirty minutes.
6. Heat the oven to 180C before baking. Bake it for about thirty minutes. The top should be golden brown. Cover it with foil if it browns too early. Adding the sweets is done after baking.
7. Take the bread out of the oven. Brush it again with olive oil while hot. Add them after baking rather than before. The hot oil holds them in place. Press them onto the surface gently. Let it cool right on the tray. Give it at least thirty minutes. Tear it or cut it into pieces. It keeps three days if wrapped.

Technique

• The sugared anise sweets scattered over the top are red and white, the colours of the Monaco flag, which is deliberate and marks the bread as specifically Monegasque.
• Fougasse elsewhere in Provence is usually a savoury slashed flatbread with olives or herbs, and the word comes from the Latin for hearth bread, as does Italian focaccia.
• The sweets go on after baking rather than before, since sugared sweets melt and burn in the oven, and the hot oil holds them in place.

Substitutions

• Any coloured sugared aniseed or small hard sweets can stand in for the traditional ones.
• Rosewater can replace orange blossom water for a different perfume.

Variations

• Some bakers cut slashes right through the dough in the Provencal style.
• A version with more nuts and fewer sweets is also made.
• Savoury fougasse with olives is baked all along the coast.

History

Anise-scented flatbread strewn with red and white sugared aniseed, the colours of Monaco’s flag, sold on the principality’s feast days.

Frequently asked questions

What is Fougasse monégasque?

Fougasse monégasque is a dessert from Monaco: orange-blossom flatbread topped with nuts, anise candies. Anise-scented flatbread strewn with red and white sugared aniseed, the colours of Monaco’s flag, sold on the principality’s feast days.

How long does Fougasse monégasque take to make?

Fougasse monégasque takes 40 minutes plus rising of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes one large flatbread. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Fougasse monégasque?

Yes, within limits. Any coloured sugared aniseed or small hard sweets can stand in for the traditional ones. Rosewater can replace orange blossom water for a different perfume.

What is the most important thing to get right in Fougasse monégasque?

Press it into a large flat oval or rectangle. Aim for about two centimetres thick. Press your fingertips into the surface. Make dimples all over the whole thing. They also stop it doming in the oven.