Mix salt, chopped thyme, and flour in a bowl and set aside

Cut the pasta madre into smaller pieces and add them into the bowl that has the flour mix

Add about 80% of the water, the olive oil, and start kneading until you feel the pasta madre is incorporating well into the dough. Then add the rest of the water

Knead the dough until the gluten is almost developed and add the drained olives

Do a set of stretches & folds to help incorporate the olives. If the dough feels tight and you can't incorporate them, let the dough rest for 20 minutes to relax the gluten. Then proceed again to finish incorporating the olives

Once ready lightly oil your bowl and put the dough inside, let it proof at room temperature until it doubles or almost doubles and you see some fermentation bubbles at the bottom (Refer to the post to see how you can do a cold retard of this dough)

When the bulk fermentation is over, lightly flour your counter and divide the dough in as many fougasses as you want (3-4 pieces will have a nice medium-small size). Shape the pieces into dough balls, cover them and let them rest 10 minutes

Take one dough ball and flatten it with your fingers giving it an oval or semi triangular shape. With your fingertips stretch the dough into a larger piece of about 1cm/0.5in thickness. Use as much flour as needed to avoid the dough from sticking

Once you have shaped all pieces cover them and let them rest for 10 minutes

Place the pieces on the trays you will use to bake them and with the narrow side of a bench scraper cut slits into the fougasse pieces and stretch them a little so the cuts don't close while the dough proofs and bakes

Cover the fougasses and let them proof until you see them getting puffy, then turn on the oven at 425F/220C and finish proofing while the oven preheats. If you want to create some steam place an old metallic tray in the bottom part of the oven

When the oven is ready brush the pieces with egg wash for a shinier touch (optional) or just spray some water. Bake them for about 30 minutes or until they get a nice golden brown color. If you are creating steam in the oven you can add a cup of boiling water into the tray that has been preheating in the bottom of the oven.