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| Gibassier |
This month
we at We Knead to Bake are baking a French
breakfast pastry/ bread called Gibassier (pronounced zee-bah-see-ay) from the
Provence region. The Gibassier is also the name for large cookie from Lourmarin
in particular that’s about a foot long, is made with olive oil and oval shaped
like a leaf.
So what is a
Gibassier?
The
Gibassier is a buttery French breakfast bread to make it more
delicious it’s flavoured with candied
orange peel, orange blossom water and aniseed, and topped with a sprinkling of
plain or vanilla sugar. A Gibassier is
shaped as one big round loaf, or larger
or smaller breads. They are slashed/ snipped decoratively before they’re baked.
Aparna has said that,"Gibassier
is one of the 13 traditional French Christmas desserts that are traditionally
served after Midnight Mass to signify Christ and his 12 apostles at the Last
Supper. Many people refer to the Gibassier as Pompe à Huile (French olive oil
bread) while others insist the two are not the same. The Gibassier is somewhat
like an Italian Panettone, and it is believed that it must apparently be torn
apart with the hands when served to bring good luck in the New Year. It is
thought that the Gibassier is named after a mountain peak in the Luberon
Mountains, called Le Gibas. Others suggest that the name comes from the
“gibacier” which referred to a flat bag that was used to carry game, somewhat
similar to the shape of the pastry."
