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Breads and Bakery

Cold Fermented Fougasse with Olives | French Bread Recipe



This cold bulk fermented fougasse is the prefect bread for Valentine’s Day. Laced with delicious olives and topped with parmesan it will melt every bread lover’s heart. Fougasse is a French bread usually shaped like a leaf. It is like a focaccia, but crustier as the cuts create more surface area. There are a few fougasse recipes on my channel, but this one is the best one.

Cold bulk fermentation gives it a distinct flavour which is stronger than a regular fougasse. Another advantage of this method is that it gives great flexibility of when to bake the bread. You can leave it in the fridge for longer if you are not ready or you can pull it out sooner.
If you are not into olives, then feel free to leave them out. You can top the fougasse with anything you like. Thyme and parmesan were my choices this time and they work well.

The shaping is also up to you. It does not have to be a heart shaped Valentine’s bread. You can enjoy it any day of the year and shape it every which way you like.
This recipe makes one loaf large enough for two people. It goes well with some roasted pepper mezze or baba ghanoush. Hummus would be a great accompaniment too.

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Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:45 Ingredients & equipment
1:08 Mixing & resting
2:31 Chilling & laminating
4:12 Folding & cold bulk fermentation
4:46 Stretching & final proof
5:43 Final shaping & baking
7:03 The result
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24 Comments

  2. Arnold Kotlyarevsky

    The market near me has two kinds of fougasse: one with jalapeno and cheddar, and another with mushrooms. Both are excellent. I like the idea of doing one with walnuts and pecorino. Thanks again for your excellent, and I mean truly excellent, work.

  3. PrinceAli

    Love the videos man. I make a bread every weekend from your videos specifically and am very happy with your work!

  4. Samira

    I like how you folded in the olives, great idea for Valentine’s Day! I’m going to make it…

  7. gonzoducks8

    Today I watched something called Palmeras Leonesa. A version of a Palmier but with yeast and sourdough. So they are a bun.

    I will probably make that. Or go with something easy like Canele de Bordeaux.

  15. George Pagakis

    Did someone say Pizza? Yum.
    Man this looks amazing. I love the rise you got even with the olives being in there! I have tasted this type of bread and just dipping it in good olive oil is amazing.
    My problem is finding the time to bake. But this is no different then making a pizza and no preferment! Def a recipe to have in the Arsenault 🙂
    And maybe I will try it for V-day! Cheers m8)

  17. Sue-Ellen

    Hey, the bread looks amazing. Got a quick question. I don't have easy access to bread flour. Can I substitute it with the same amount of all purpose flour?

  18. Lan Smith

    Question, if I wanted to make two smaller hearts, should I divide the dough before or after the 12-18 hr cold ferment? Meeting some friends at an oyster bar on Sunday – thought a small heart fougasse would be a nice gift.

  19. Christos Peppas

    Great content as always! You mentioned a pizza steal for baking in this video. Do you have any specific brand/model to recommend? I have tried so far a pizza stone as well as a thin pizza steal but i wasn't happy with my results on my pizzas. The bottom wasn't taking the proper baked color even with a whole hour preheating at 250 celcius. As far as i know thickness is crucial for retaining the temperature. Any suggestions or tips would be very helpful 🙂

  20. bib

    I made this bread today(i actually started yesterday but baked couple of hours ago) and it disappeared in a flash! It was very delicious, we ate it with baba ganoush. I didnt have parmesan so i sprinkled poppy seeds to half and black sesame seeds to the other half. I must say i encountered a bit of problem making it but it turned out fine at the end. I used as much flour as you stated but texture came out a bit sticky. I couldn't strech it after making cuts in dough, it was stuck to parchment paper. So i'd say keep a good eye on the texture to however is planning to bake this. Lastly thank you for the recipe :))

  22. latieplolo

    I love these cold fermented breads! I have a 1 year old and I’m about to pop out another, so many of my bread attempts have been ruined because I’m just not available when the timer goes off to do the next step. I’m going through your list now to see what I can learn before we’re a 2 under 2 household and life is too hectic for this kind of leisure activity!

  23. Soa Hickman

    If I was to not use any olive or other garnish, would i have to laminate it ? Thank you so so much for such amazing recipes ♥

  24. Karen Francis

    I made this but shaped it into the classic batard shape.
    Scattered it with olives and pieces of fire roasted peppers.
    It stayed fresh for ages. ❤

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