Fougasse is nothing else than a French version of focaccia. Are the French better at it? Are the French better at anything related to baking and cooking than the Italians? Oh what a dangerous, inflammatory question.
I’ll say sometimes they are. Yes, I can hear the indignant chorus vilifying me on Twitter, demanding a death sentence and hanging dogs and cats and the horse heads upon my hashtag. You see I think Italian cuisine, strictly as in the pan-European interpretation, has lost its bite. Any old Dick or Harry opens an Italian these days, serves up pasta and pizza and steak, all in the same joint (a cardinal Italian sin) and claims to be called Ricardo or Enzo.
This with full respect to authentic Italian cuisine – the stuff that your average European would sniff at, like Roman tripe or Florentine salad of fresh porcini (are they poisonous? how can you be sure??).
So fougasse we're having today, comme les françaises, and it can be salé or sucré,with lardons, olives, both, Roquefort – or covered with a thick layer of crisp, almost caramelised sugar. All strictly Provençal. All fantastically tasty, freshly bought from the market or your favourite boulangerie. This recipe features Roquefort and it's borrowed from Les recettes d’Alexandra.