This first time I was served olive bread in Italian restaurants, I fell in love…every bite so chewy and studded with bits of kalamata olives. I could have skipped dinner and just eaten the whole loaf. Other, ahem, family members were not as enamored… So when I saw this gorgeous bread in Around My French Table, I knew it was another one of those half batch recipes for me to enjoy. And enjoy I did!
A fougasse is a flatbread from the Provence region of France shaped to resemble a leaf. Besides figuring out how to slash the dough to form “veins,” this was a simple bread to put together. The yeast was proofed, added to flour and kneaded in my KItchen Aid mixer for 10 minutes before stirring in oil packed black olives, minced rosemary and lemon zest. This dough sat covered at room temperature till doubled in size, then was punched down and parked in the fridge for 6-24 hours. After shaping and cutting a few slashes in the dough, it was brushed with a combo of oil and water before sprinkling with coarse salt. A quick baking time had my kitchen filled with an amazing aroma in no time. This outshined my expectations…the most sensational flatbread I’ve ever baked.
At the publisher’s request, the Doristas do not post the recipes from Around My French Table, but a similar recipe by Dorie was published in Bon Appetit with the addition of sun dried tomatoes.
{ 103 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for sharing this , Lizzy ! Want to bake another bread
Naturally , will borrow the book from our awesome local library 
Here , let me taste some of that first ! lol
Your presentation looks awesome as always !
This sounds delicious. You did a great job with the challenge. My family would really like this. I hope you have a great day. Blessings…Mary
I love fougasse and have been thinking of making a sweet one soon. However, after seeing your olive studded beauty..I think I need to go briney first. I’ve been on a kalamata and nicoise olive kick, straight from the jar, since my Nicoise Salad, and those Provencal olives look wonderful in your fougasse!
I love fougasse – one of the things I try to get once a week from the bakery here
Your one looks outstanding – great job!
Oh yes, I can only get to eat Olive Bread in restaurants too as I can’t bake. It looks lovely & soft. If only I’m your next door neighbour & I’ll be knocking on your door every now & then. Hahaha!
Lizzy, if u’re also celebrating Mother’s Day, be sure to head over for a good laugh!
Surprise Mom with A Stalk of Abalone Flower On Mother’s Day!
The bread looks rustic and absolutely delicious!
Gorgeous Lizzy! I see your holes closes up a little in baking too. But wasn’t this fun and delicious?
What a beautiful looking bread. It looks so fresh and tasty and Italian! Absolutely perfect for so many reasons xx
This is absolutely gorgeous and it looks SO delicious!
I love olive bread and my husband does not like olives at all. I can feel for when you make something and a family member does not care for it but you love it.
We loved this rustic flat bread too I couldn’t stop nibbling the crispy edges;-)
Thanks so much for coming to the tea party! This bread reminds me of my favorite Italian restaurant growing up!
Well I am a huge olive fan, this sounds delightful!
I agree with your love for olive bread. The fougasse looks great! Hard to stop nibbling
This is such a beautiful bread – I figure it would be quite hard to stop eating it
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
As always, your bread looks beautiful. Perfectly cooked. Dorie is made even better at your hands.
Very lovely, Liz.
This was definitely a nibbler
Have a great weekend!
I agree – give me a freshly baked bread like this and maybe a salad and I don’t need the rest of the dinner! OK, maybe I still need the dessert…
What a coincidence – yesterday I bought a homemade loaf that looks exactly like this, with olives and sun-dried tomatoes. It was delicious (but not uniformly loved in my house either). Now I know how to make it!
Wasn’t this one delicious and easy!? Yours looks great Lizzy!
I do love homemade bread,especially flatbreads. This does have some wonderful flavors infused into it and I am sure it was very tasty. Breads like this are hard to resist, beautiful looking bread! Enjoy the weekend!
The bread is gorgeous and sounds so tasty!! Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother’s Day!
I want a big hunk of this bread with a big bowl of soup! (It’s freezing in my office!!!)
This is a bread I am going to make and adding the olives makes it even better. I will add in the sun-dried tomatoes too. Those two ingredients I love. Looks wonderful Liz.
I knowmy family would love this! Who doesn’t love olives, looks super delish! anne
Gorgeous bread Liz!I also love the warm breads served in Italian Restaurants, but never attempted to make…Yours look delicious and with those olives in there, hmm yum yum!!
I think only my girlfriend could appreciate a bread like this. She’s the only person I know who loves olives.
Your bread looks delicious. I’m not an olive hater.
This bread looks to-die-for. Thx for sharing what a fougasse was & enjoy your weekend!
Lizzy, you’ve awakened the Provençal spirit in us with this. I wonder if it also brings out the sunshine? Looks fabulous and can just about smell it from the oven…
This bread looks so much like Foccacia and it looks delicious. Love the combination of rosemary and olives
This bread looks perfect, Liz! Great job on it! Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend.
I have made this and think I ate about half of it. Don’t think it was quite as gorgeous as yours (because you CAN bake). But everyone should have this in their life!
yum, olive bread had got to be amazing. looks perfect
I saw that recipe a couple of months ago and wondered if it was as amazing as it looked… Glad to know it’s worth the time and effort for even a non-baker
It’s a French version of foccacia–I love it! Olive bread is one of my personal favorites. I can never resist it when I see it in a bread basket.
Yours turned out beautiful!
Gorgeous photos! Nice color on the loaf, too!
Just might have to make this for the weekend – I’m like you and could make a whole meal out of it. Half batches are right up my alley too. Like how you got around the “no posting” issue – clever.
Have a super Mother’s Day!!!!
Before kiddo nr.3, my Hubs and I used to go to this quaint Italian restaurant and they would serve this amazing bread with olive oil dip. We miss it and crave it once in a while. I can’t wait to try your recipe – looks perfect! Yum! Have a wonderful weekend, my friend!! xoxo
I love fougasse and look amazing Lizzy!
Que pan más delicioso. Hay tantos panes diferentes que me encantaría probrarlos todos.
Gracias por darnos a conocer este magnífico pan
¡Saludos y buen fin de semana!
Hello Lizzy, I love Olive Bread! It looks amazing!
Very lovely looking fougasse, nice color on the crust, it simply looks delicious! Your photos are wonderful and really show off this great French bread – I am glad that you liked it so much! Have a wonderful weekend!
I’m finding new ways to appreciate Hubby through all this blogging…we have similar taste buds. When I recipe comes up that I really struggle with he feels the same way about it, and when one is bread with olives that I love, so does he. I lucked out in the kitchen department with him, but the down side is that we each ate an entire loaf of this bread…is it called a loaf? Anyway, I should learn to halve the recipes now and then. Your bread is beautifully baked!
Never heard of a fougasse before. When I first saw the picture, I thought it was a big chocolate chip cookie. I sure was far off.
Gosh that looks great. I will have to try it soon. Thanks for sharing with us.
I could have eaten the whole thing for dinner, too! It was so delicious! Yours looks simply beautiful! Happy Mother’s Day, Lizzy!
Oh, Liz…this is stunning! I had a beautiful artisan bread with kalamata olives in California that I fell in love with…but no recipe. I have Dorie’s cookbook – I can’t wait to try it! Thanks and have a GREAT weekend!
Your photos are lovely! So glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Okay seriously Mama Liz, I am hopping on a plane right this instant. Your killing me with all this delicious goodness this week. Nothing better than smelling this when I walk through the door. K start another one now, be there in a few hours.
Your fougasse is just lovely, Lizzy. This was new to me, but I will be making this again and again. It was just so much fun to work with the dough…and eat.
I hope you have a wonderful Mother’s Day!
Well done with your artisan bread!
Very nice, Lizzy! I need to make this one up! Happy Mothers’ Day!
Ahh, I could eat all of this bread!! Olives are awesome and when mixed in bread..well I just can’t speak right now
Happy Mothers Day..
I love it too and I really enjoy the fun of shaping it to leaf form and it was delicious
have a great weekend and Happy Mother’s Day !
I saw your post on Facebook that you were baking this in the morning – that made me so hungry! Now with this picture… grr… wish I have a piece!
Lizzy, Happy Mother’s Day! Enjoy your day!
Lizzy…I learn so much about food from you. This is such a beautiful bread. I love olives too… I would have definitely “broken bread” with you so didn’t have to bake only a half loaf.
Have a great weekend! ~ Ramona
I love fougasse but I have always been too scared of failure to bake it. Yours looks just perfect!
What a lovely loaf bread…like you I can happliy just eat this for dinner
I’m with you about bread. My husband is Italian and can’t eat a meal without bread. We have a breadmaker and use it a lot. There are so many variations of toppings and even stuffings that one can invent.
Very appetizing bread with lovely flavors! Always love fresh homemade bread! Have a great weekend , Lizzy!
I love this bread and though I always forget to do Dories recipes on Fridays this is one I will have to make time to try. So pretty and I know tasty. Thanks for sharing.
I love bread and anything yeasted. So, it sounds just perfect for me. Thanks for another beautiful recipe.
Happy Mother’s Day.
Blessings
Kristy
What a lovely bread! This is something I would love to try!
Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend, Lizzy! Happy Mother’s Day!
-Lovely,
Now all I need is a glass of some nice Cupcake Wine. Xx
This was just too good. Yours looked delicious. Was your family any more enamoured this time?
This looks like such a great bread Lizzy =)
Sounds fabulous – I bet the aroma as it baked was incredible!
Your bread looks fantastic! Happy Mother’s Day Lizzy!
Your bread looks delicious. Great post!
Eating warm fougasse from the farmer’s market is one of my best memories from France. Delicious!
Oh how yumy!! I can only imagine how good this would be warm from the oven and dipped in some olive oil!!
Your fougasse looks tres elegante on the platter with the rosemary sprigs. I loved how easy this was to make. Can’t wait to do it again with different kinds of mix-ins.
Your fougasse looks tres elegante on the platter with the rosemary sprigs. I loved how easy this was to make. Can’t wait to do it again with different kinds of mix-ins. (Didn’t mean to post my comment anonymously)
This looks so good. I don’t bake bread I always mess it up no matter how easy it is.
O M G. being maltese, i love anything with olives. i Have to try this. i’m glad to have found your blog and i’ll be sure to pop over sometime again to see what you’re cooking. feel free to drop by my web-home sometime! x
simply marvelous!
I love baking… and this looks awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Your fougasse looks fantastic!! I’ve only gotten into baking bread this year but it’s such a rewarding thing to do and now I bake a couple of loaves every week. Making fougasse is definitely on my must try list.
It looks delicious!! Thank you for sharing
Merrybellyland777.blogspot.com
FFWD sounds like more of an occasion to treat yourself than anything lately! At least you like it all!
felice giornata…ciao
Olive bread made at home… I’m impressed. Nice post. A.
Are you sure you aren’t French, Lizzy? This fougasse looks tres authentique!
I want you in my kitchen!!! delicious!
http://www.rollolollo.com
I can’t believe you only made yourself a half loaf! I’d have treated myself to like two or three full loaves…DROOOOOL
Hi Lizzy-here I am…tagging along, #88 commenter, LOL!
Love your French style focaccia, with the olives, especially! It turned out fluffy, and beautiful, even if the holes closed up (who needs them anyway?)…still see the slashes, which look attractive.
I would love to “break bread” with you, on this day, Mother’s Day…and every day, if I could!
Happy Mother’s Day, my dear friend!
xoxo
Lizzy, it’s beautiful and I am sure delicious! Love this bread! Happy mother’s day!
This looks amazing! I love fougasse but have never made it.
Fougasse is so fun to say as much as I’m sure the bread is SO FUN to eat! I still can’t get the “slashing of the dough” just right but hopefully with practice…
Yummy, your description of the olive studded bread is spot on- I want some now!
Just where I wanted to go today – Provence! Looks like it should be in the window of the boucherie.
Happy Mother’s day back at ya.
Sam
Dear Lizzy, Thank you for you kind visit. It means so much to me. I have made so many dear friends in this beautiful blogging world.
I hope that you are enjoying your Mother’s Day with smiles and good memories for the years to come.
Blessings dear. Catherine xoxo
p.s. These look wonderful.
Hi Liz,
This looks wonderful!
Delicious Bread Lizzy. I had weakness toward homemade breads.
Happy mothers day to you.
This is a phenomenal bread and I remember my first time too. You did an impressive job my friend!
I brought back some olive oil from Morocco that has a distinct olive flavour — it would go so well with this bread. It’s beautiful too. I like using the sun-dried olives when I make bread, they are just so darn tasty.
Olive bread was one of my favorite things to buy for a wine & cheese night in Montreal. I would get mine at Première Moisson but I would love to make my own!
I’ve never tried olive bread, but it sounds wonderful. You have such a wonderful crust and color on your bread!
I’m in heaven!! What a gorgeous loaf of bread! I love olives in bread. This looks perfect.
Thank you for sharing this on Fit and Fabulous Fridays!!
Your fougasse looks wonderful! Olive is a favorite of mine as well, and fortunately for me my family loves it. Hey wait, that means less for
me