A Fougasse

Fougasse stuffed with olives, sundried tomatoes and anchovies.

First I made the fougasse dough according to St. Raymond, that’s Raymond Blanc in case you live on another planet.

The dough starter needs to be prepared 12 hours in advance.

You shall require

Ingredients:

For the dough starter

5g fresh yeast

135ml cold water

100g strong white bread flour (in Germany 550)

100g rye flour

For the dough

680ml tap water

940g strong flour, plus extra for dusting

130g rye flour

15g fine salt

22g fresh yeast

Filling

5-6 pieces of soft sundried tomatoes chopped quite small

3-4 pitted black olives diced

6 anchovy filets, diced

For the topping

1 tsp. Rosemary chopped

Some sea salt crystals

Fresh ground black pepper from the mill            

I made my starter on Friday evening a good 12 hours before I needed it, whisk the yeast into the water, mix the two flours together and then add the yeast/water mixture and mix to form a thick paste cover and set aside to ferment.

Next day

Mix the water to the starter (I whisked it) it should become a dirty clay colour any one that has done any pottery will know when I say slip glaze consistency.

Place both flours into the food processor with a dough hook, add the salt to one side and crumble the yeast to the other side, add the starter dough mixture and set it going on low for 5 minutes until well mixed, you can now increase the speed, but as Linda’s processor only has 2 speeds, I left it on this speed a further 7 minutes, it had by this time formed into a silky smooth ball.

I removed to a baking dish and covered with cling film and allowed to prove for an hour.

 It will by this time have doubled in size.

As Raymond had said I cut it into 4 pieces,

It was at this point that I realised that I had far too much dough (this is what happens by following a recipe blindly, I should have read a bit further on when it says it is for four fougasse loaves, ah well Linda has now 500g of fougasse dough in the freezer)

I next put the oven onto maximum (250°C) and put 2 baking trays into the oven. I then rolled the dough out into a typical fougasse shape, here I made my variation I cut part of the way through the triangle from top to bottom. Like this:

On one half of the centre line I put half of the filling and flapped the other half over sealing the edges and enclosing the filling in an envelope. Roll out to the required shape, I now made the typical slashes through the dough, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary, sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Repeated the same procedure with the other piece of dough, placed it also on baking paper. Cover and set aside to prove for 45 minutes.

I put the whole lot including the baking paper onto the hot baking trays, put a bowl of water in the bottom of the oven, do this all quickly so that the oven doesn’t cool down too much. I baked at maximum for 10 minutes and then swapped the position of the trays, which was the lower to the top and vice-versa, baking for another 7 minutes then check, this ensures that they both get the same degree of browning.
Tap the bottom of the loafs, when they sound hollow, they are then done, remove from the oven and place on a cooling grid.

A Golden Autumn Menu

---

The Kikoklu Autumn Menu

This years had been planned a few months back (well Kalle had offered to host it, so believe me that is planning) and as is ritual in this cookery club of culinary excellence, the host gets to do the main course and we tag along each picking a course, normally 6 but as Martin was not with us (he was at a wedding in Berlin) then there were 5.

Linda had picked the starter, but Kalle had chosen to do a few pre-dinner nibbles and a cocktail. It was to be a gin –martini but made with Noilly Prat. (Linda and I visited the Distillary in France when we visited that part of France two years ago). Kalle certainly didn't spare the horses in this one.

 

Linda had made a very nice starter, Klein aber oh so fein.

In fact It was made in two parts

A potato and spring onion Rösti, a green Italian sauce topped with smoked trout.

A large raw potato grated and then squeezed out in a clean tea towel, a spring onion sliced very fine. mix well and allow to rest.

Heat oil in a frying pan and place a teaspoonful of the mixture into the oil and push down lightly, just enough to flatten, not to hard or you will not be able to get them off the pan. when the bottom is a golden brown flip them over and brown the other side. Note these are true rösti's made from raw ingredients.

Put onto kitchen paper to drain

These can be made in advance and put into the oven at about 180°C just before you require them.

The green Italien sauce

1 small bunch of flat leaf parsley leaves only chopped
1 small bunch of basil chopped
1/2 tsp capers chopped
1 tsp finely chopped cornichion
1 anchovy filet finely chopped
1/2 clove of garlic very finely chopped
1 tsp dijon mustard
3 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Mix all well together to form a thick sauce, don't blend, it is meant to be a bit lumpy.

1 filet of smoked trout cut (or broken) into small pieces.

To serve

Heat the rösti's in the oven set at 180°C.

Plate them up (for a starter 2 -3 each) put a teaspoon of the green sauce on top of each rösti and place a piece of trout on top. 

 

Salmon balls with a home made  dill mayonaisse

250g of salmon filet (skinned and pin boned)

1.5 tbsp of crushed panko crumbs

1/2 a beaten egg

1/2 tsp lime zest

1.5 tsp lemon juice

1.5 tsp chopped dill

S&P to taste

Dice the salmon into 5mm cubes, mix together wit the rest of the ingredients and form into small balls in the palms of your hands (it is best if your hands are wet, it means that the mixture does not stick to your hands)

Fry the balls, in a little oil, turning so that they get well browned,

place along side your trout rösti's and drizzle a little home made dill mustard mayonnaise over, a knife point of caviar and a slither of lemon skin.

 

Everyone agreed that it was a wonderful starter, that was well thought out and passed into the theme of the evening.

Wine was a very nice picpoul (now one of our favourites with fish)

 

Next followed my roasted paprika and tomato soup with brown shrimps topped with a wasabi foam and rosemary. To this I had made a rye & wheat fougasse stuffed with sundried tomatoes, olives and anchovies. I had used Raymond Blanc’s recipe from his kitchen secrets, but had then added my own twist to it, I shall certainly be making it again. I had originally meant to do a second bread, the hairy Bikes onion and sage tear and share, because I decided to use fresh yeast instead of the fast acting yeast in the recipe (don’t ask me why, as I had it with me) it had not risen in time to bake. But it was the next day and is a really wonderful bread (ask Linda, well done lads)

 

Then came Mariannes Autumn composition, a wonderful roasted pumpkin salad with pine kernels and pumpkin seed oil (Steiermark of course). It was really rather nice.

 

 

 

 

Smile it was very tasty

 

And that led us on to Kalles pièce de resistance, his Steinpilz (Cèpes) risotto. It was a smashing creamy consistency the rice still with that bite. Well done Kalle wonderful

I watched and not a tear was shed

 

Sweating the onions

In with the rice

give it all agood stir to coat the rice

In went a drop (or two) of white wine

Creating alcoholic steam, cough, cough



Slowly adding the home made chicken stock

And the last bust not least, the steinpilz, oh and a handful of freshly grated Parmasan



To finish we had a smashing baked apple dessert from our Carolyn, this was baked in a tray topped with a quark topping sprinkled with nibbed almonds and baked in the oven, nice one Carolyn (though because of its sweetness I didn’t participate, but those that did, the other 4, thought a wonderful composition).

 

We had quite a smashing evening and alas as I as normal snatched my 40 winks, it was soon time to depart for home, we drove there and got a Taxi home, I walked to Kalle’s next morning to pick it up, it was so nice and not a lot of people about ( just a few joggers, willi-nillying through the parks and along the Hindenburg Ufer (I met a couple of old sea dogs as well).

 

It was such a smashing evening we even had a special rendering of “The Healy River Dance”

 

And Kalle doing his wick trimmer, keeping the lights burning bright

 I am now looking forward to our Christmas menu, it will be in Richmond Castle this year and of course Christmas games will be the theme, wink, wink nudge, nudge just to give you a little clue.