Name: Cheesey Pesto Fougasse
Yield: 4

Step #1

(Makes 4): Place the bread mix into a bowl with water and mix to a soft dough. Knead well for 5 minutes until a well developed dough is formed.

Step #2

Cover loosely with polythene and allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes. Add the pesto and 50g of pine nuts and mix thoroughly adding dusting flour if required.

Step #3

Divide the dough into four pieces and mould round. Roll or press the dough out into a rectangular shape about 20 x 25cm (8 x 10 inches).

Step #4

Place onto a baking sheet and make a large diagonal cut across the centre of the dough without cutting the piece into two. Make three smaller cuts either side of the large cut and push each cut out making a leaf shape.

Step #5

Repeat with the remaining three pieces of dough. Cover with a damp tea towel, lightly oiled plastic or polythene and leave in a warm place for approximately 40 minutes or until double in size.

Step #6

Sprinkle each dough piece with the mozzarella cheese and pine nuts. Bake in a preheated oven 200°C (390°F, Gas Mark 6) for 15-18 minutes until well risen and golden brown.

Why it works

Fougasse is used to make the French version of calzone, which can have cheese and small squarish strips of bacon inside the pocket made by folding over the bread. Other variations include dried fruit, Roquefort and nuts or olives and goat cheese. This takes its name from the latin, panis focacius which was a flat bread baked in the ashes of the hearth . The French versions are more likely to have additions in the form of olives, cheese, anchovies etc., which may be regarded as a primitive form of pizza without the tomato. Fougasse was traditionally used to assess the temperature of a wood fired oven. The time it would take to bake gives an idea of the oven temperature and whether the rest of the bread can then be baked. Deb the Bread