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Focaccia bread art is a new trend where you decorate focaccia fresh vegetables and herbs to make beautiful edible art
Making focaccia bread art is not only fun but delicious! These edible works of art inspired by the creations of Vineyard Baker on Instagram are fun for the whole family to make.
What toppings are best for focaccia bread art?
These are the types of ingredients you can use to decorate your bread art. Get creative with what you have!
- Red onions – thinly sliced to look like flowers
- Mini bell Peppers – sliced vertically (so they stay round) to look like small flowers or sliced horizontally (in strips) to make big sunflowers!
- Chives – Make great flower stems
- Green Onions – Also make great flower stems or seaweed
- Parsley – Perfect for leaves
- Basil – Also great for leaves or seaweed
- Cherry Tomatoes – Sliced in half length-wise and dried with a paper towel. Makes great flower centers or seed pods
- Olives – Rocks or centers of flowers
- Capers – Seed pods
- Rosemary – Small plants
- Thyme – Small plants
- Pepperoni – We shaped ours into fish
- Sausage – Flower centers or seed pods
- Shredded Parmesan – Sand or dirt
- Tomatoes – Use a sharp knife to make tomato roses!
How do you make focaccia bread art?
Start off with my easy focaccia bread recipe. I mix this dough up the night before I want to bake it. The long proof in the fridge gives it flavor and a lovely chewy interior with a thin and crispy crust.
Here is what my timeline looks like so you can plan ahead.
Day 1 – In the late afternoon or evening, I mix up my focaccia dough and set it aside to bulk ferment (rise) in a warm area (70ºF). This takes anywhere from 2-3 hours because of the large amount of oil in the dough and depending on how warm your room is. The warmer it is, the faster the dough will rise.
After your dough house doubled in size, dump it out onto your work surface. Divide the dough into two pieces if you desire.
Prepare two sheet pans with a thin layer of olive oil that coats the entire surface.
Stretch the dough onto the pan. I got mine all the way to the edges because I made a double batch but if you are using a single batch, just shape it roughly in the center of the pan as much as you can. Here is a beautiful example from Vineyard Baker.
Cover your sheet pan in plastic wrap to keep the dough from drying out and then place it into the fridge overnight for the second proof.
Day 2 – Take your focaccia out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature for about 30 minutes. You want the dough to be nice and bubbly before you start decorating so that the dough doesn’t envelop your veggies. I like to prep my toppings while the focaccia is warming up.
Dimple the top of your focaccia as usual, add your olive oil and flakey salt. as directed in the recipe. Now you’re ready to decorate! Go crazy! Have fun! Put the art in focaccia bread art!
After you top your focaccia, coat all the herbs with a layer of olive oil to prevent them from burning while you bake.
Focaccia bread art ideas
Now is the time to get creative with your focaccia bread art! Use your imagination! If you search focaccia bread art on Pinterest you will see TONS of inspiration!
If you have any bread leftover, cover it with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge. Bake it for 10 minutes in an oven at 350ºF to refresh it before eating and it will taste good as new!