there goes the baker

this is a fougasse. it's just a simple leaf-shaped flatbread that looks smart and impressive. unfortunately, of the six i made, only this one was the right shape, and looked the most decent. the recipe comes from bertinet's dough.
starting from a clean slate. i dream of a big worktop in my future kitchen - complete with a big marble rolling board, and ruler markings along the sides to help with measurement.
simple white dough made and left to rest. i spent about 1.5 hours working the dough, but it didn't seem to come together. then i read the book again and it says it should take only five minutes. and so i made myself visually believe that in the video, his dough was still sticky by the time he finished working it.
the dough pieces simply weren't big enough for me to cut and shape into nice fougasses. i couldn't stretch the pieces too big because i had to minimise handling the dough; the dough is not left for proving, so you don't want to lose air by overhandling. anyway, you have to really open up the holes or they will seal up again during baking.
the six fougasses. was supposed to use maize flour to achieve a deep golden crust, but i didn't have any, so i just used white flour. i really love the centre one in the top row; it looks just like the one on the cover of my book, save for one missing cut.
anyhow, i'm sitting in front of the computer rewatching desperate housewives and eating a fougasse. just love the dirty laundry on wisteria lane.
i planned on making baguettes after this, but i'm way too tired after spending close to three hours on the fougasses.

marie! the baguettes! hurry up!