Fougasse Aux Grattons (provencal 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 mixin 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 fgor 30-35 minutes until crisp and golden. Serve warm with a
bitter salad like endive or dandelion. NB: this is a very rich bread ++
more like a salty shortbread than anything else. But *very* good.