That Focaccia Flower Bread Everyone Is Making
Chances are you’ve seen focaccia flower bread recipes popping up everywhere in your social feeds. My natural inclination as a “traditional cook” is to snub food trends. But I have to admit, this recipe looks pretty, pretty. Also… I love flowers… and I love bread. So I put my food snobbery aside and jumped on the bread wagon. Also, I’ve been meaning to venture into breadmaking and baking to challenge myself this winter. Here was the opportunity.
The incentive for me was adorning the bread with beautiful flower depictions made from vegetables. I spent a great deal of time on the blogs looking at floral inspiration. What I should’ve been reading about is “the hard part,” you know, how to actually make focaccia bread.
It’s been the precision of measuring, math and timing involved with baking that has always made me anxious. Therefore, I wanted to go simple. I found this recipe below from melskitchencafe.com. Following these directions proved to be straightforward enough.
Most of my worry was for naught. The bread was absolutely delicious. But it wasn’t exactly authentic focaccia. The consistency was off and it was too thick. I’m thinking this was the case because it was a “no knead” dough recipe. Next time, I’ll try a more standard approach to preparing the bread.
They say always go with your gut, right? While designing the flowers was super fun and makes for great Instagram glory, it wasn’t ideal for overall flavor factor. I wanted more olives, tomatoes and chives in every bite. I feel traditional focaccia with evenly spaced garnish wins.
But give it a go regardless, it’s a creative spin worth trying. Get the kiddo’s involved too. Bring the focaccia to a dinner party or serve it to friends. It has that “wow factor” every host is looking to present on their table.
Focaccia Flower Bread
Focaccia Ingredients:
5 cups water
1 tbsp active dry yeast
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 cloves minced fresh garlic
Flower Art Ingredients:
1 Yellow pepper
Chives
1 Small Tomato sliced
Pitted olives
Fresh parsley
Note: experiment and use whatever veggies you like! Onions, cherry tomatoes, asparagus, rosemary and basil are other good options to try.
Directions:
– Dissolve 1 heaping tbsp of active dry yeast in 1 ½ cups of warm water. Stir and let it sit for a few minutes.
– Add 5 cups of flour, diced garlic, olive oil and 2 tsp of salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast in water and the remainder (4 cups). Mix well until you have a wet, clumpy dough with no dry flour showing.
– Cover the bottom and sides of a 9×13 inch baking dish with 2-3 tbsp of olive oil. Transfer the dough into the baking dish, spread it out and cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit on the counter for 6-8 hours.
– After 6-8 hours, your dough will have doubled in size. Turn the oven on to 400°F. Use your fingertips to make small divots on the top of the dough.
– Top with kosher salt and design your flower bread with the veggies of choice. Drizzle with 2 more tbsp of olive oil.
– Bake for 40 minutes at 400° F or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with more coarse salt and a bit more oil. Let the focaccia cool for 10min., cut into squares and serve warm.
