Fougasse Aux Grattons (flat Bread With Crackling Recipe

*Flour should be a mixture of unbleached white bread flour with 2 generous
handfuls of buckwheat flour, sifted together. If you can’t find the
buckwheat flour, don’t worry about it.

For the dough: Stir together the yeast and a handful of flour in enough
water to make a runny batter. Leave for 1 hour. Warm the remaining flour in
the oven, mix in salt and make a well in the middle. Pour in the yeast
mixture and add enough tepid water to make a moist dough. Knead for 10-12
minutes on a lightly floured surface. Leave to rise in a large floured bowl
covered with a dampened cloth. When the dough has doubled in size, turn out
onto a floured work surface, punch down and flatten the dough out. Add the
grattons (see immediately below for how to make them). Preheat the oven to
450F/250C.

For the grattons: Cook the meat, fat and wine over a *very* gentle heat in
a heavy covered saucepan. Press down on the meat several times during
cooking to render up as much fat as possible. After 1 1/2 – 2 hours, pour
the liquid off through a strainer. (It can be used instead of olive oil for
cooking, and often was, in Provencal cooking.) Crisp the diced meat over
higher heat, straining off any liquid fat when necessary.

To make the fougasse, make the bread dough, and after the first rising mix
in the grattons. Then, with a knife, cut through the dough first one way,
then another. Reform into a ball and repeat. Gather the pieces together
into a mass, divine in two and form into two flat loaves, slashed straight
through their thickness in numerous places. Spread the holes wider with
your fingers. (You are striving for an effect like a flat sheet of bread
with holes like those of a slice of swiss cheese.) Brush the top with the
egg yolk and bake on a hot metal sheet for 30-35 minutes until crisp and
golden. Serve warm with a bitter salad like endive or dandelion.