FOUGASSE

Boule -The French Bread

Baking bread at home is always fun, and indeed, it takes time and patience, but it is rewarding. Come to think of its food is made out only from flour, yeast and water, fundamental ingredients.  During baking, the aroma of the fresh bread lingering in the kitchen.  It is Wonderful!.
There are many types of bread that we could do.  From the plain bread to flavoured bread, and also the speciality bread of the country origin, such as a Boule, it is around French bread as pictured.  

Home Baked Bread

Give Us Our Daily Bread is Beautiful Prayer.  Daily Baking Bread Could Be Wonderful.









I do love baking bread, and recently I have learnt a lot about sourdough bread and the making of sourdough starter.  Once a month to bake sourdough bread is not often enough, and the problem is feeding the sourdough starter to keep life is not easy,  I might forget! At present, I have the starter sits in the refrigerator at least five weeks, so I am not sure that it is suitable for baking.  In any case, I have to start to make it from scratch to get better bread.

My Home Baked Sourdough Fougasse 

The next baking that I have in mind is Fougasse based on another recipe, it is a flat and pretty looking bread from Provence one of the regions of  France.  The Wikipedia says about Fougasse: In French cuisine, Fougasse is a type of bread typically associated with Provence but found (with variations) in other regions.  Some versions are sculpted or slashed into a pattern resembling an ear of wheat.

This Fougasse that I am going to bake uses dried yeast and fermented dough which is prepared the night before. It is based on the recipe of Louis Vaussenat.  It is added butter.
Two days to make the Fougasse, the first day is the preparation of fermented dough and the flavouring of the Fougasse, which is onions and bacon.

Day One: Fermented Dough
Ingredients: 100 g strong flour, a good pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon dry yeast.
60 ml of water

1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together to form a dough, place onto the bench and knead until fully developed. This should take 8-10 minutes.
2. Place into a lightly oiled container, cover with plastic wrap and leave overnight to ferment - at least 12 hours.

Sauteed Onions and Bacon
150 g sliced onions

150 g bacon trimmed and cut into thin slices

Salt and black pepper

1. Heat a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil and lightly saute the onion and bacon. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Remove from the heat and place onto a paper towel to absorb any oil.  Place in a container to cool, cover and place in the fridge.

Day Two: The Dough
500 g strong flour

10 g salt
160 g fermented dough of the day before
5 g dried yeast
20 g butter
315 ml of water
precooked onion and bacon from the day before
dried herbs for topping (optional)

1. Sieve the flour onto your work surface. Make a well and add the salt, fermented dough, yeast and butter (I said Oil instead)
2. While mixing by hand, slowly add the water to the well.
3. Mix or knead the dough by hand for 11 minutes and make sure that the dough is fully developed.
4. Add the pre-cooked onions and bacon and continue to knead - this will take a while to become incorporated.



The dough after the first proofing

5. Lightly oil a bowl large enough to allow the dough to double in bulk.  Put the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic. Leave in a warm place (25 degrees C) for 1 1/2 hours.  By this time the dough should be nearly double in size.
6. Gently knock back the dough in the bowl.  This will deflate it slightly but will develop more strength.  Cover again and leave for 30 minutes.
7. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured bench and, using a dough scraper, cut the dough into 4 pieces, at approximately 315 g

   

   Divide into Four

   each. Mould each dough piece into a cob shape b cupping your hands around and moving in a circular motion, pulling the skin tightly over the dough.  Don't over do it though or the surface will rip, and this will spoil the appearance of the finished product.  The final shape will look like a smooth
   

   

   Final shape

   Ball, but with a rough, scrunched-up bottom.  Lay the pieces back on the floured bench and cover with a proofing cloth or plastic. Give an intermediate proof of 15 minutes.

   

   Covering with a proofing cloth

8. Uncover the dough and then, on a floured bench, use a rolling pin to roll each dough piece into an oval shape, approximately 200 mm long by 100 mm wide and 1mm thick.
9. Using a sharp knife or razor blade, cut 3-4 diagonals down each side, 50 mm in length and all the way through, then pull each cut apart to create a wide-open effect.  Repeat for the remaining dough pieces.
10. Place each dough pieces onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, 2 per baking tray.  Allow about 50 mm between each piece of dough, keeping the cut wide open. The wider, the better.
    

    

    Rolling the dough and ready for shaping

    

    Shaping and making pretty

    
    

    

    Final Proof and Baking



Freshly Baked Fougasse

11. Cover each baking tray with plastic and put in a warm place.  Allow to final proof for 30-40 minutes or until fully proofed.  If desired, lightly spray the dough with warm water, sprinkle with dried herbs.
12. Place the baking trays into a preheated oven set at 230-240 degrees C and bake for 15-18 minutes.  Fougasse should be well cooked so that they are crisp and not pale.
    
13. Remove from the oven and, if desired, immediately brush lightly with olive oil.  Cool on a wire rack.

(I forgot to brush with olive oil, for the freshly baked Fougasse). The Fougasse looks a little bit dull, but it is alright.

Fougasse is the best to be eaten at the day it is baked, delicious, warm straight of the oven.  However, it freezes well, when you want to eat it, take it out from the freezer and heat up in the oven to crisps up.

This recipe is very friendly, you cannot go wrong, and at the end result the Fougasse is delicious and baked beautifully.  But  I found that Fougasse made out with sourdough starter has more flavour.

I had great fun to bake this bread, and I was lucky enough to share it with my daughter and her husband Tristan who came home to visit us.
Crafted Fougasse is beautiful.  A few of these bread, the pretty Fougasse sit on a plate adorns the rest of the spread, it makes a beautiful table.

Fougasse with no Butter
I decided to add oil instead of butter for this Fougasse because Tris is dairy intolerant.  But a big mistake was I made him a coffee cake.  Oh dear, I forgot that it has butter in it.  No Cake!
After a good night sleep, I had this bright and lovely idea.  Loukoumades are Greek doughnut (fried in oil of course) it is suitable for him.  It was not too late to wish him a happy birthday with beautiful Loukoumades which easily prepared (the whole process was only 22 minutes or even less, from start to finish)

Loukoumades for Tristan

One Loukoumades is Enough

Fougasse without butter, and I cooked Potato Fondant without butter. No Butter still Better!


Brush with olive oil, the freshly baked Fougasse (hot and fresh out from the oven)!  I baked one this morning, Sunday the 25 of June.  And indeed it looked better and hopefully taste good too.

Baking the Fougasse with Dried Herbs

Beautiful and Crisps Fougasse.

The recipe says added butter, but added oil was good too.  It worked well.
Have Fun Baking the Fougasse.  Enjoy the Recipe.


Until Next Post
Susy

CONFIT

Large Eggplant Confit

What is confit?  It is a cooking technique by immersing the food in oil or other fat and cook over low heat.

Confit (/kɒnfi/, French pronunciation:  [kɔ̃fi]) comes from the French word confire which means literally "to preserve,"^[1][2] a confit being any type of food that is cooked slowly over a long period of time as a method of preservation.^[1]

Confit is a cooking term describes when food is cooked in grease, oil or sugar water (syrup), at a lower temperature, as opposed to deep-frying. While deep frying typically takes place at temperatures of 325–450 °F (163–232 °C), confit preparations are done at a much lower temperature, such as an oil temperature of around 200 °F (93 °C), sometimes even cooler. The term is usually used in modern cuisine to mean long slow cooking in oil or fat at low temperatures, many having no element of preservation such as dishes like confit potatoes. (Wikipedia)

Prepared and cooked tuna confit, but it did not work out very well.  After reading and learnt a lot from the literature, I know now what I have done wrong.

Confit Yellowfin Tuna in Oil and Fresh Fennel.

This tuna confit is looking good, but it was uncooked almost raw, and at the end, I had to save it for simply pan-fried tuna, then it was eatable.  Not the best but healthy enough to be eaten and mixed with pasta and vegetables.

To Confit, there are steps that you may have to follow religiously.  You cannot skip any because you don't want to do it.  E.g., I will just put in warm oil, and I know it is going to be OK.

A good confit needs correct and precise technique and execution.

Confit Tuna, a Salmon, has the same method.   And this what I learnt how to confit tuna properly.

Confit Yellowfin Tuna

Two fresh yellowfin tuna
Rub with salt and spices

Place in a deep container, make sure the tuna sits in one layer

Add the herbs, cover the dish and refrigerate for one hour

Remove from refrigerator, transfer to a small pot, big enough to hold the two tuna

Add oil to cover the tuna, about two cups

Bring oil to 63-66 degrees C and poach the tuna for 8-10 minutes. Turn off heat and let it the tuna cooling in the oil.  (you do need a cooking thermometer to read the temperature of the oil)

You could not afford to confit tuna in hot oil, it ruined the fish.

I shall do it again and follow the technique correctly.
I like the idea of confit the tuna and serving it.  I would love to have the yellowfin tuna confit served as a salad, to accompany my home baking bread: Fougasse.

Vegetable Confit, such as potato, eggplants or even capsicum could be very delicious.
I did confit eggplant (Imam Baaldi), and it was so good, we enjoyed the eggplants confit indeed.

Eggplant Confit - Imam Baaldi

It keeps well, refrigerated.  Recipe for this confit, please look on my older post and type: the priest has fainted.

A delicious dish, Potato Confit, it's soft, succulent and perfectly seasoned. The ground rosemary and bay leaves flavoured the potatoes very well.  Fresh vegetable oil was used instead of olive oil.

Sliced Potato Confit

Susy Potato Confit
Peel, wash and pat them dry, and slice thinly

Sliced potatoes and the seasoning

Ground Dried Herbs-Rosemary and Bay 

Rub with salt, place them in a shallow cooking pot, sprinkle with ground rosemary and bay leaves,  add in oil to cover the potatoes.

Without the lid - stay open.

Put on the stove to cook over medium heat for 5 minutes enough to heat the oil to a warm stage not too hot.

Reduce the heat to a very low, add a sprig of rosemary and keep the pot open - without the lid, continue on cooking for 30 minutes

The last cooking stage
with the lid on, slightly ajar

Place the lid on but slightly ajar, and cook for 18 minutes further. Take off from the heat, let the potatoes stay in the oil, until serving time.

Potatoes Confit 

It was a successful confit,  the potatoes were soft, succulent, well seasoned and looked beautiful.

Confit is one of the best cooking techniques, it suits me very well as the gentle process of cooking over the low heat imparts only a very delicate smell.  The kitchen stays fresh and clean without any spitting of the cooking oil.


We enjoyed the potato confit and the deliciousness. A simple but scrumptious dinner we had.

Potato Confit and Garnishes

Confit vegetable seems more forgiving than the fish confit. With the fish, if the oil is too hot, you could see the albumin oozing out looking rotten and unappetizing, the texture and the taste are not acceptable.

The next confit I would do is the duck confit, maybe not so soon, but I will show you how to do.  It cooks in the oven instead of on the cooktop. The duck confit keeps well, as we know that a confit is a form of preserving.

I think it is going to be fun.  Stay Tuned.


Until Next Time
Susy

FISH AND QUAIL (Updated)

Fancy and festive food need thorough preparation, but it can be prepared earlier and freeze them for time-saving.  Cabbage Filled with Salmon (timbale) I have cooked for a dinner party.

 Steps of the Preparations

It is Susy Salmon Timbale - a beautiful and dainty layer cabbage leaves filled with salmon shape likes a high turban and served with a light green herb sauce.
Fish for feasting, using salmon fillets that are delicate but cooked beautifully if you got it right. My plan, the dish is prepared by Poaching method.  The salmon fillet is cubed mixed with egg yolk flavoured with herbs and I shall have soft, pinkish colour and creamy texture of the fish, hidden under the sweet and succulent cabbage leaves.  It should be looking pretty on a white plate, with the green sauce drizzling down of the top of the timbale and spreading on the plate makes a lovely contrast and looks appetising. We will enjoy the deliciousness.  Serve as an entree for a long dinner party, or serve it as a main for a sophisticated light supper.

The Preparations 
For this dish, using Savoy cabbage is the best.

Use the white part of the Savoy cabbage, tear some of the leaves and blanch in hot boiling water.  Let them cool and keep aside. Grease 4 jumbo muffin tins with melted butter or oil and line with the cabbage leaves, making sure to leave enough overhang. Use the large leave as it is easier to work with.

The four muffin tins were greased with melted butter
and lined with the blanched cabbage leaves

Using salmon mouse maybe the way to go for the dish, but I decided to have a short cut by using egg yolk only to mix with the salmon meat.

Four Egg Yolks, freshly chopped fennel fronds,

400 gr of salmon cubes, I needed, and four salmon fillet with skin on I had.
Skin the fillet, get the bone out if any, diced to cubes.  Keep aside.  100g of salmon for each timbale.

Fresh Salmon Fillet with Skin On.

For the filling: Mix the salmon cubes with fresh fennel fronds, salt and white pepper and add the egg yolk mixture, mix together

Fill the cabbage cups/timbale with the filling.

 Simply divide into four equal and place into the prepared tins lined with the cabbage and add a cube of butter on top, and cover with cabbage leaves to enclose the filling, cover and wrap with baking paper on each of the tins/timbale and tie them with cotton.

Four cabbage cups with salmon mixed filling.

Wrap them again in foil, place each wrapped tin/timbale on a piece of cooking foil.

Now you have four wrapped timbales in foil.  Place the flour in a container, and they are ready for deep freezing.  I will cook for our dinner party within a week.  Directly cooking from frozen to poaching, defrosting is not necessary.

To cook, simply take them out from the deep freezer,  place them on a poaching pan and poach for 11 minutes in a hot oven.  Take it out from the poaching pan, let it rest until serving time.

I hope it worked, I already got the picture of the beautiful rustic looking turban/timbale with filling sits on a white plate, and it looks so pretty.  You could not see the creaminess of the salmon until it cuts.

TO BE CONTINUED.

Continued and Updated today, 24 June 2017

Poaching the Salmon Timbale in the Cooktop.

The Timbales were poached on the cooktop, instead of in the oven.  It worked well, and the salmon cooked alright, it was not dry,  But I think the Timbale is delicious too, to be served cold.

Poaching the Salmon Timbale on the cooked top for 19 minutes, straight from frozen.

Serving the Salamon Timbale Cold

Beautiful Salmon Timbale, Dressed in Avocado Sauce

COOKING QUILES.

CURIOSITY
I have been curious about the taste of the small bird-quail - often I read recipes about it and also I saw the cooking show, that made me want to try to cook and to taste.

Fresh Quail, washed and pat to dry.

Butterflied the quail,  rub with lemon juice, white pepper,
thyme and salt.

Freshly Pan-fried Quails

Pan-fried the quails to cook for 5 minutes.
Pan-fried skin down for 3 minutes, turn it over and cook
the other side for two minutes.

While the quail is cooked and resting, on the same pan saute
the greens until soft but still, crunchy. 

Serving: Served with potato and the greens.  It was not a bad dish, but it could be better if it were served with a sauce.   Cooked well, it's tender and pink.  I thought extra spices and salt would taste better as I did not prepare any sauce.

The taste of the quail meat is gamey but light.  I don't mind at all as I love the flavour of duck meat, which is rather strong.

My curiosity has been answered now, love the flavour and the texture of the meat, but I am not sure cooking quails again.



Until Next Time
Susy