Fougasse (French Breadsticks)

The flavours is a little like focaccia, but a French chef told me this bread comes from his provincial town, where people eat this like a bread stick, with a little olive oil. I tried this with italian style, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and some nice, matured cheese. It's pretty good. I would imagine the dough makes for a great sandwich bread too.

• Ready In: 21 mins
• Serves: 10
• Yields: 10 loafs

Ingredients

• 1  kg bread flour
• 80  g olive oil
• 20  g salt
• 20  g dry yeast
• 10  g sugar
• 600  g water
• 2  tablespoons dry oregano
• 2  ounces sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
•  black olives, quartered
•  sea salt

Directions

1. In a mixer bowl with a hook mixer, mix the bread flour, dry yeast, salt and sugar together.
2. Add in the water and olive oil, oregano and chopped sundried tomatoes.
3. Mix for about 8 minutes at low speed, then about 6 - 10 minutes on high speed. This will give the effect of kneading the dough.
4. Rest on the table and cover with a plastic wrap for about 30 minutes.
5. Cut some dough out and roll the dough out flat, about 1 cm thick. Cut incisions into the dough, random patterns. This will make it easier to break the bread into sticks once it's baked.
6. Place onto a lined baking tray and leave to prove for about 20 - 30 minutes.
7. Brush with some extra virgin, and garnish with quartered black olives, some oregano and sea salt. You may also add some more sun dried tomatoes.
8. Bake in 220 C and sprinkle some water into the oven for some steam. Bake for 20 minutes.