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Fougasse
“The history of bread is the history of men and of all time.” – Gerard Auzet. Think focaccia by way of Provence and you have fougasse, a crusty, yeasted flatbread distinctive for its pretty cut-outs mimicking a wheat stalk. And like focaccia, fougasse’s origins go back to good ol’ ancient Rome and the panis focacius, or “bread of the focus” (hearth or fireplace), which were flatbreads cooked in the ashes of the fire.
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Nummy Naan
Khusrau baji prem ki khelun pi ke sangJeet gayi to piya more hari pee ke sang. (I’m playing a game with my beloved; if I win he will become mine, if I lose, I will become his.) – Amir Khusro. Bubbly, fresh, fluffy naan – that beautiful Indian flatbread not just popular in South Asia but all over the world. Derived from an old Persian word meaning ‘bread,’ naan’s first recorded history dates to 1300 C.E. Thanks to Indo-Persian poet and musician Amir Khusro, we know that naan-e-tunuk (light bread) and naan-e-tanuri (cooked in a tandoor oven) were cooked at the Imperial Court in Delhi. By the early 1500s, naan was…
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Focaccia with Tomatoes and Caramelized Onions
A tavola non si invecchia. (At the table one does not age.) – Italian proverb. How can you not love focaccia? While the dough makeup is similar to that of pizza – flour, water, sugar, yeast, oil and salt – it’s the baking process that makes focaccia unique. The basic recipe is considered to have originated either with the Etruscans, or in Ancient Greece, and its name is derived from the Latin “panis focacius”, with panis meaning bread, and focus meaning hearth or fireplace. As focaccia was cooked in the ashes of the fire, you could read this as ‘bread baked on the floor of the oven.’
