A gibassier (pronounced: [ʒi.ba.sje]; French: gibassier, Occitan: gibassié, formerly gibacier) is a French pastry from Provence, a galette made with fruited olive oil. It is generally spiced with anise, candied orange peel, and orange flower water, and dusted with baker's sugar.
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The gibassier is often conflated with the pompe à l'huile (pronounced: [pɔ̃p alɥil]; Occitan: poumpo à l'oli, pompa a l'òli, literally "oil pump"), but these are distinct dishes. The pompe à l'huile is moister, breadier, and is part of the thirteen desserts of a Provençal Christmas, which is the only time of year that it is produced, while the gibassier is drier, pierced with holes, and an everyday pastry, made year-round.[1]
According to the great dictionary of Occitan Lou Tresor dóu Felibrige, by Frédéric Mistral, the pompe is a « fouace, galette, gâteau que l'on envoie en présent aux fêtes de Noël » (fouace is a sweet cognate to focaccia, rest of definition discusses Christmas usage) while gibassié is « gâteau à jour, une galette percée de trous, un craquelin » (everyday cake, pierced with holes).
The gibassier is traditional and common in Provence, but is rarely available in the Anglosphere. In the United States, it has been popularized in the 2000s by Michel Suas (founder of the San Francisco Baking Institute), and master baker Ciril Hitz. It is made commercially by Pearl Bakery in Portland, Oregon, and hence available at shops around town.
The etymology is unclear – see gibassier. Some suggest that it is named after the mountain peak Le Gibas in the Luberon mountains.[2] Alternatively, the old form gibacier is also a flat bag, used to carry game (from the French word for game, gibier, from Latin); these words may be homophones, or the origin, the pastry having a similar shape to the bag.
As a traditional dish, there is significant variation between preparations (compare bouillabaisse). A more unusual variation is to prepare it as a hard biscuit (cookie), rather than as a cake, but with the same pierced shape. This is a specialty of Lourmarin.[2]