If you love bread, then you've probably enjoyed focaccia at some point. This Italian flatbread is one of the easiest breads to make and is super delicious. While many people have been making focaccia while staying home, one new trend that's gaining a lot of interest is focaccia bread art! While it's common to scatter herbs like rosemary or parsley on focaccia, a baker named Teri Culletto in Massachusetts (known as Vineyard Baker on Instagram!) helped popularise focaccia loaves decorated with vegetables, herbs, olives and other ingredients to create beautiful garden focaccia landscapes. Let's get into more details of how to make this beautiful bread (we include a halal focaccia recipe below too!).
P.S. Looking for more easy bread recipes? Check this list out!
You can use your favourite focaccia recipe - if you don't have one, try this one from Chef John which is a classic (P.S. you don't need to add the semolina if you don't have any!).
While your dough proofs, you can prepare your ingredients for decorating your focaccia. Things that can be used include:
- Bell peppers
- Cherry tomatoes
- Herbs
- Spring onions
- Olives
- Chillies
- Red onions
The dough can be decorated after the first proof, once you've shaped your dough, let it rest, covered it with oil and salt and dimpled it lightly (the hallmark of focaccia bread!). Then let your creative juices loose and decorate your bread canvas however you like! Once you're done, it's usually advised to give another coating of oil over the top of your masterpiece before baking.
Teri (Vineyard Baker) actually wrote a whole manual documenting how she does her focaccia bread art, including her own focaccia recipe and many helpful tips on the ingredients used for decoration (such as soaking up excess moisture from cherry tomatoes and dipping your herbs in lemon water so they don't burn when baked. Check our her full guide here! You can also find other beautiful ideas for focaccia and other bakes on her website.
It's always nice to be able to immerse in a creative outlet, and when it produces results that are not only gorgeous but yummy to eat, it's even better! It's sure to be a fun activity to do with family or your kids too. So set aside some time to make your very own work of edible art!
P.S. Looking for more bread recipes? Check this full list out. Or if you're looking for more easy Italian food to make, we've got you covered too!