Today's post was inspired by the century-old tradition of serving 13 desserts on Christmas Eve that originates from Provence. The number of desserts was probably fixed as late as the 1920s and the combinations of dessert amount to more than fifty. However, the ladder-shaped bread fougasse is always on the list.
A historic region inhabited long before the Greeks and Romans arrived, Provence lies in the southeast of modern France between Languedoc and northern Italy, including the famous Côte d' Azur. Historic towns like Marseilles, Nice, Toulon or Avignon (where the heart of Roman Catholicism beat for nearly seven decades in the 1300s) also belong to Provence. Like its neighboring French and Italian duchies and/or counties, Provence was an important political and financial centre of medieval and Renaissance Europe, upgraded at some point to a kingdom. Its
former capital, Aix-en-Provence, was constructed by the Romans,
occupied by Goths, plundered by Lombards and Franks, again occupied by Saracens, until it became a favorite residence of Catalan & Angevine (French) noblemen - especially René.
René d' Anjou (1409-1480) rose into power while
the English and French ruling houses conducted the Hundred Years' War and the houses of Sforza and of Medici dominated northern Italy. He was count of Guise, duke of Bar, duke consort of Lorraine, duke of Anjou, count of Provence & Forcalquier, count of Piedmont, count of Barcelona, king of Naples, titular king of Jerusalem, titular king of Sicily & Aragon, marquis of Pont-à-Mousson, and peer of France. At 20 years old, he fought alongside king Charles VII and Jeanne de Lorraine and played a decisive role in the negotiations of Tours. Sixteen years later, his daughter Marguerite d' Anjou became the wife of king Henry VI of England.
Although he liked travelling, "the good king René" was seriously devoted to the administration of Provence, Lorraine & Anjou. He spent much of his time in Aix-en-Provence, cultivating the Arts & Letters - together with his second wife Jeanne de Laval. The couple sponsored the illumination of manuscripts as well as the art of Nicolas de Froment, distinguished painter of religious subjects from Avignon. René was a poet himself, following the literary genre of chivalric romance. Besides his military campaigns and diplomatic missions, he took an interest in agriculture. He encouraged the love of gardens, forests, and pastures - the natural habitat of wild & tame animals - going as far as to compose a long poem, Regnault and Jehanneton, full of bucolic scenes. The original manuscript, which is kept at St. Petersburg, is dated from between 1466 and 1480. The
central idea of this work is the love between two young people, shepherd and
shepherdess, that is modelled on the king's own relationship with his second
wife Jeanne. In the following extract, the shepherdess offers Regnault a lunch of bread & cheese and goes on to make a declaration of true love:
- Et cela dit, dessus l'erbage
S' assirent, sans point davantage
L'un près de l'autre ; puis du fromage
Et du pain bis
Print lors la belle et dis: « Amis
« Regnault, vois-tu ce coign faitis
« De pain que t'ay gardé, tandis
« Que tu dormois,
« En ma panetière, que vois,
« Et ce fromage ; or ne t'esmois
« De riens ; jamais ne te fauldrois,
« Jusqu'à mourir,
« Que ne t'en doye repartir.
« Croire m'en puez, sans en mentir,
« Car j'ay si très parfait desir
« De povoir faire
« Chose par quoy puisses bien croire
« Combien je t'ame, et que complaire
« Te vouldroys, par Dieu débonnaire,
« Que, pas au quart,
« Non amie a la centiesme part,
« Me saroye dire, très tant art
« Mon cuer, sans cesser tost and tart
« En ton amour ;
« Mon doulx ami, mon gent pastour,
« Ame moy donc, sans nul faulx tour
« Jamais ne faire, nuit ne jour. »
[...]
Le roi René. Regnault et Jeanneton. Introduction, notes & glossaire par Maurice du Bos. Paris 1923 (lines 296-322)
Fougasse
is by no means a peasant's bread although some recipes use goat's
cheese. There is also no chronology of bread-making in Provence but it's unlikely that fictional Renault and Jehannot snacked on fougasse; if they had, there would probably be a reference to its shape.
A paraphrase of the Latin term panis focacius ('bread of the hearth') is a popular flatbread in Provence - similar to Italian focaccia.
It's made all year round, using wheat flour, yeast, and olive oil, and
it's either filled or topped with olives, cheese, anchovies, walnuts, or
herbs. The sweet version is flavored with orange blossom water,
sometimes made like a brioche and filled with candied orange peel. Instructions are very particular about shaping the 'ladder' but there are countless versions of fougasse. Many are flattened, others are slashed in opposite directions, brioche-like fougasse is actually quite tall, and some versions are left to rise so much that you end up without any gaps. Fillings are sometimes kneaded into the dough, other times used as toppings so the bread looks like pizza. In many instances, fougasse is wonderfully crispy - it's why I like it so much.
FOUGASSE
This is a sweet-and-salted version of the ladder-shaped bread.
I n g r e d i e n t s
500g spelt flour
1 sachet of dried yeast
1tbsp honey
1tbsp olive oil
1tbsp thyme
1tsp salt
300ml lukewarm water
100g goat's cheese, crumbled
100g walnuts, chopped
M e t h o d
Combine flour, yeast, honey, olive oil, thyme and salt in a bowl. Add the water and knead for 1-2 minutes. Let rest for 15 minutes under a towel. Knead for 8-10 minutes, cover, and leave to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk. Punch down, knead for 1-2 minutes, cover, and leave to rise until nearly doubled in bulk. Divide in two and roll into rectangles. Cover the first with the cheese and walnuts and place the second rectangle on top. Seal the edges and press the middle, to flatten the loaf. Slash diagonally with a knife and open the cuts with your fingers. Place in baking sheet and cover with a towel. Let rest for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 225C. Brush with olive oil and place in the lower rack of the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
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