Lately, if you’ve been browsing around on YouTube and Instagram, you’ve probably noticed the explosion of the trend of vegetable-decorated focaccias, or as some call them “flowered focaccias”! It’s an artistic way to present a focaccia on the table, creating compositions depicting fields, landscapes, and flowers in general, based on whatever your imagination suggests. They are truly beautiful to look at, more in their raw version than cooked to be honest, since the colors of individual vegetables are at their peak potential! Some seem like real paintings, but no one mentions how delicious they are!!! Now, admitting that I’m not the type to follow trends just because everyone else does, in fact, I usually shun them and go against the grain. I don’t like conforming to trends, whatever they are, least of all in cooking, but I admit I succumbed to this temptation! It intrigued me more to approach a form of creativity, making my focaccia unique simply because it was created entirely from my mind. Basically, I certainly drew inspiration from a common idea and then followed my personal tastes! After all, if we think about it, it’s not so different from preparing all the other recipes we make! And so today I present mine, which I wanted to call “spring” because flowers, butterflies, and fields fully evoke this season and are even its symbol! Far from saying it’s perfect, but I enjoyed making it so much, and especially consuming it, that I’ll soon venture into another version, based on the inspiration of the moment. The base is the tried and tested bread-pizza one that you already find on the blog. Here you’ll find more than anything some tips to decorate it and make it pleasant to the eye, and have fun!
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 6 Hours
- Preparation time: 25 Minutes
- Cooking time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups Manitoba flour
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup spelt flour
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 0.5 oz fresh yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil + as needed
- 2 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 Tropea red onion
- 3 yellow cherry tomatoes
- 2 cherry tomatoes
- 2 chocolate cherry tomatoes
- 2 zebra Roma tomatoes
- as needed fresh chives
- 10 leaves parsley
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 6 salted capers
- 3 black olives
- 1 radish
- as needed mixed seeds: sesame, chia or poppy, flax
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
Preparation
Prepare the dough for your focaccia following the recipe instructions. Place the obtained dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a clean cloth, and let it rest in the turned-off oven with the light on for 2 hours until it doubles in volume (fig. 1).
Take the dough and stretch it with your hands on a well-oiled baking sheet and cover with a cloth. Let it rest inside the turned-off oven for 3/4 hours. Then create a border by pressing the edges with the tines of a fork (fig. 2).
Decorate as you like. I created a ground with mixed seeds, flower stems with chives, leaves with rosemary needles and parsley, butterflies, and petals with slices of cherry tomatoes and red onion rings, and corollas with olives and capers (fig. 3).
Once ready, finish with a drizzle of oil and a pinch of salt. Place in the oven at 392°F for 20 minutes (fig. 4).
Remove from oven and let cool slightly. And voilà… your spring focaccia is ready to be enjoyed!
Bon Appétit from FeFe’s kitchen!
