Fogatsa: the traditional sweet bread of Corfu

Fogatsa or Fokatsa, as some call it is another element that shows the Venetian influence on our traditions on the island.
It is usually round in shape and is also found in a smaller version called “Colombines”.

Fogatsa is a bun! Not any baked good with eggs, milk, sugar, butter, flour, yeast, vanilla, orange zest, it is our Corfiot “bun” . Fogatsa is the treat we buy when we go visit a friends house, or our family, for the holidays. It is the sweet bread that decorates our festive table wrapped with a big red ribbon, the one that at Easter always has a red egg in the middle and a colourful feather!

In Italian “Colombo” means dove, while “Colombina” is the little dove! That’s how we can assume “Colombines”, the little Fogatsa got its name.

Our Fogatsa comes in countless variations, the Italians are naming the fried bread dough “Fogazza ot Fogaccia”, the Balkan people name their bread with extra butter “Pogača” and the French name their most famous pastries , “Foygasse”.

Festive aroma of Fogatsa at Soupionis Bakery.

Addresses: on the corner of the Saroko square in the center of the town (Donatou Dimoulitsa 1)
and on the Corfu-Lefkimmi National Highway on the right side of your way to the southern part of the island!

• 800 gr. flour for buns
• 200 gr. hard flour
• 180 gr. Corfu cow butter
• 170 gr. sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 large oranges zest and juice
• 200 ml. Muscat wine
• 50 ml. kumquat liqueur
• 120 ml. fresh milk
• 45 gr. Fresh yeast
• 1 capsule vanillin or liquid vanilla
• A pinch of salt
• 1 egg yolk

Let the ingredients come to room temperature and preheat the oven to 40°C for 10 minutes and turn it off.
In a bowl, mix the milk, which we have warmed slightly, with the 50 gr. of sugar and yeast until dissolved.
Add the hard flour and mix.
Leave the yeast in the oven for 40 minutes.
Put the butter with the rest of the sugar, orange juice, zest, vanilla and salt in a saucepan.
Place on low heat and stir until the butter melts.
Remove from the heat, add the liqueur, wine and lightly beaten eggs.
Sift the flour.
We begin to gradually add the flour to the hot mixture alternately with the sourdough.
Knead lightly with the palm of your hand, closing the dough inward until you get an elastic dough, which will perhaps stick a little to your hands but will be soft and when you hold it in your fist it will not stand firm but will spread.
It is very important that our dough is elastic, shiny and moist.

If we feel that the dough sticks more and we feel that we cannot manage it, we never flour our hands, if necessary we pour 1 tablespoon of melted butter into the bowl and wet our hands while kneading.
Let the dough rest in a warm place for an hour, covered with a slightly fresh towel, which we will have wet with warm water and wring out well but will not come into contact with the dough.
We divide the dough into as many buns as we want to make, the dough rises enough so you can make even 3 or 4 buns.

** We don’t tire the dough with too much kneading and we don’t shape it on a floured counter, we still use a little melted butter in our hands if necessary.
We create loaves. Place the fogatsa in a buttered round pan. With a pair of scissors, cut the dough in a cross on the surface. Let the dough rise for 40 minutes in a warm place.
Dilute the egg yolk with a little water and gently brush the focaccia before baking.
Bake in a well preheated oven at 175°C for about 45 minutes.
Let the fogatsas cool well on a rack and wrap with cling film!