Showing posts with label speciality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label speciality. Show all posts

Monday, September 3, 2012

Pastry of The Week 3rd September: Fougasse aux Anchois

Well here we are with the inaugural Pastry Of The Week (POTW) as chosen by The Daughter: Fougasse aux Anchois. Thanks. That'll be easy.
Fougasse comes in many forms, some an oiled bread similar to focaccia, some, like Fougasse Aigues Mortes, more of a cake.  The Fougasse aux Anchois is a lattice made from either pastry or dough, I'm not sure; it has a pastry-like texture on the outside, but a doughier inside, with (as you may have surmised) chopped anchovies in it, and is a speciality of the South. It is very salty, crispy on the outside and moist and more bread-like on the inside.  I recommend smearing it with cream cheese, or using it as an accompaniment to a mild soup.
At this point I have no idea how to recreate it, so I will be spending some time researching this week.  Further bulletins as events warrant.
Catch you later, special llamas!

 

Pastry of The Week 3rd September: The Results

Being confused as to the nature of the dough/pastry for the fougasse as made by my favourite boulangerie, I did want to ask the boulanger but he was frantically busy evry time I was in there this week and I have no desire to rub him up the wrong way (oo-er).  I settled for trying a bread-based recipe from a book called 'Tous les Pains' that I bought 5 or 6 years ago and have never got around to using (despite bookmarking several recipes).
Looking at the results, I am now 100% convinced that the fougasse we bought was made with pastry and I will have to find a good time to pick the boulanger's brain.  I'm feeling pretty good about the fougasse I made, however.  It looks ok for a first attempt, and we will find out at apĂ©ro tonight how well I did as far as taste.
All-in-all, I could quite cheerfully boot The Daughter around the room for choosing that as the first Pastry Of The Week.  It took hours and hours to make, which is probably why the boulanger does a pastry version.  I will update with a verdict on the taste later.  The Daughter had better bloody well like it......