Provençal Fougasse Bread

How to prepare provençal fougasse bread

1. Mix the Herbs de Provence with the olive oil.
2. On a surface sprinkled with a little flour, divide the dough into 4 pieces.
3. Place each piece on the work surface and stretch lightly by hand. It doesn't need to be very thin.
4. With a pastry wheel or knife, cut several slits in the sheet following the pattern in photo 1. It will look like a leaf. Brush the "leaf" with the herbed oil. Sprinkle with coarse salt (you can use fleur de sel) and a little pepper.
5. Line the baking tray with parchment paper. Grab the dough from the top, lift it and place it in the tray. When you move the dough, it will stretch slightly under its own weight and the holes will widen.
7. Sprinkle the "leaf" with finely chopped green and black olives. Press them gently with your hand so they stick well to the dough. Let rise for 20 minutes.
   * The chopped olives can be added to the dough when kneading, but I like to put them on top because the plain dough can be used for other dishes
8. Bake at 240°C for about 10-15 minutes.
9. * I only made 2 fougasse with olives; with the remaining 2 pieces I made a mozzarella bread variation:
   I stretched each piece by hand. I mixed the sweet pepper paste with oil and brushed the sheets well with this mixture. I sliced the mozzarella thickly and placed them on the bases. I let rise for 20 minutes. I pressed the mozzarella slices into the dough to fix them well. I sprinkled with parmesan. I baked the bread at 240°C for 15 minutes.

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