Pompe à l’huile

Pompe à l’huile is a sweet, yeast-leavened Provençal bake made with olive oil worked into the dough. The dough is rolled out flat, slashed and baked, and it is flavored with ingredients such as orange blossom and citrus zest. It is known as one of the “13 desserts” served at the Christmas table.

A Dough Made with Olive Oil

In a method compiled by farm women in the Var, flour, baker’s yeast, olive oil and sugar are combined with aniseed, orange flower water and orange zest. The dough is kneaded, covered with a cloth and left to rest in a warm place. Once it has risen well, it is rolled out flat, left to rest again and slashed before baking. Olive oil rather than butter is used as the fat, and its aroma permeates the dough.

In the method presented by the Aix-en-Provence tourist office, the yeast and part of the flour are mixed with lukewarm water and left to ferment first, and then the remaining flour, the oil, and lemon and orange zest are added. Olive oil is also brushed on after baking. Some versions use orange blossom or anise, while others use citrus zest, so there is no single fixed flavoring.

Resting the dough and letting it rise gives the baked interior its softness. Even with the same olive oil, flour and sugar, the result has a bread-like texture, unlike baked goods that are crisp and crumbly.

The Confection Called Gibassier

Provence also has an olive oil confection called gibassier (gibassié). An introduction from the Aubagne area distinguishes the pompe, a soft yeast-leavened dough, from the gibassier, a drier dough that crumbles easily. Some gibassiers are flavored with anise, fennel and candied orange peel.

However, the boundary between the names is not consistent across places and shops. France’s national tourism guide also presents a yeast-free gibassier by Pierre Piantino, a pastry chef in Aix, in connection with pompe à l’huile. Both are flat confections containing oil, but differences by place and maker extend beyond the names to whether the dough is leavened and to its texture.

Shared at the Christmas Table

On Christmas Eve in Provence, a meal called the “Gros Souper” is prepared, and sweets and fruit are set out on the table. Besides the pompe, the assortment includes dried fruit, nuts, winter fruit, nougat and more. The number 13 is associated with Christ and the twelve apostles. Not every household chooses the same 13 items.

According to an account of Christmas in the Aubagne area, the pompe is eaten with a sweet wine called vin cuit. In Aubagne there is also a tradition of tearing it apart by hand to share rather than cutting it with a knife. Some households also eat the confection shared on Christmas night at breakfast the next morning. Its large, flat shape is also well suited to being shared among those at the table.

Older Tables and the Number “13”

The custom of setting out many sweets at Christmas and the custom of fixing their number at 13 do not share the same history. France’s intangible cultural heritage inventory dates the appearance of writings that emphasize the number 13 to around the 1920s. As an example, it cites Joseph Fallen, a physician who also wrote regional literature, who in 1925 urged in the newspaper La Pignato that 13 items be set out.

In the time of the poet Frédéric Mistral, pompe and nougat were already important Christmas foods. The number 13 and the combination of items, on the other hand, spread over the course of the 20th century, with variations among regions and households. Confections made since long ago were joined by the later-spreading practice of “setting out 13 items,” and both have been handed down to today’s tables.

Glossary