Provençal slashed flatbread — leaf-shaped with ladder cuts, brushed with olive oil, scattered with herbs or olives.
Roman panis focacius (hearth bread) split into Italian focaccia and Provençal fougasse along the Riviera. The leaf-cut pattern dates to medieval Aix-en-Provence; bakers cut the dough in tree shapes to test oven temperature before loading the day's bread, then sold the test pieces cheap.
Aix-en-Provence and Marseille bakeries each claim authorship; the Cours Mirabeau market in Aix sells five distinct local fougasse forms. Boulangerie Béchard, on Cours Mirabeau since 1873, makes the canonical Provençal version with AOP olive oil from the Vallée des Baux.
Crisp shattering crust with the tang of olive oil heat, soft thin crumb that pulls apart in fingers along the slashes. Eats salty-herbal up front, finishes wheaty. Best torn, not sliced — the cuts exist to be ripped along.
65-70% hydration, cold-retarded 12h. The slashes go all the way through the dough so steam escapes and the bread bakes thin and crisp instead of puffy. Olive oil in the dough at 8% by flour weight prevents the slashes from closing on bake.
Variations
Fougasse aux olives (black olive studded, Aix); Fougasse aux gratons (pork-crackling-laced, Aubagne); Fougasse d'Aigues-Mortes (sweet, with orange-blossom and sugar, Camargue); Fougassette de Grasse (orange-flower brioche-style, not savory at all).
On the Palate
Where Fougasse sits in the French flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
6 steps · 18 min active + 2 hours waiting
- 15 min
Mix 500 g flour + 320 ml water + 50 ml olive oil + 5 g yeast + 10 g salt.
- 298 min
Knead 8 min; bulk ferment 1.5 hr.
- 310 min
Stretch into a leaf shape on oiled baking sheet, ~1.5 cm thick.
- 43 min
Cut diagonal slashes for ladder pattern; gently pull open the cuts.
Watch outCut clean through to the sheet and pull the openings wide — they'll shrink on bake, so open them more than looks right or the ladder closes up.
- 52 min
Brush with olive oil; sprinkle herbes de Provence or olives.
- 620 min
Bake 220 °C 18–20 min until golden.
Watch outPull it when the ridges are deep golden and it sounds hollow and crisp — fougasse is meant to be thin and cracker-crisp, not soft.
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