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. I recommend cutting one batch of focaccia in half to make two smaller pieces of bread and decorate them individually. That's what I did with my daughter and we had a blast!
I have been wanting to try this focaccia bread art trend for a long time. I am obsessed with the magical bread art that I see on vineyard bakers page. My favorite is this sunflower named Vincent Van Dough. I love me a good bread pun! I think we could be best friends.
What's in this blog post
At the time of this blog post, the world was in quarantine so our days are filled with lots of fun projects to keep ourselves and the kids busy. This was the perfect fun project for my five-year-old Avalon and I to do together.
I just prepped all the ingredients and the focaccia ahead of time so all she had to do was decorate!
Ingredients Needed
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.
Day 1 Timeline
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 Timeline
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!
I wanted to make as many flowers as possible so mine was more like a flower bouquet.
Avalon went under the sea themed so she had lots of fish and sea creatures on hers. I especially love how Avalon used the sliced shallots so they looked like octopus swimming. So clever.
Both were delicious!
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!
Recipe
Equipment
- Stand mixer with a dough hook
Ingredients
- 16 ounces warm water (110ºF) divided into two bowls 2 cups
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 7 grams active dry yeast (2 ½ teaspoons)
- 2 ounces olive oil ¼ cup
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon flakey salt
- 24 ounces bread flour or all-purpose flour (5 cups spooned and leveled)
- 4 ounces olive oil for the pan and for drizzling on top of the focaccia after rising (½ cup)
- 2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary chopped
- Vegetables, herbs and meats for topping
Instructions
- Combine your first cup of warm water with your yeast and sugar and mix to combine. Set it aside for about 5 minutes or until it looks foamy
- Place the water/yeast mixture in the bowl of your stand mixer with the bread hook attached. You can also make this dough by hand with a bowl and spoon but you'll have to use some elbow grease.
- Add in about 1 cup of flour and mix on low until combined
- Add in the rest of your water, the olive oil and the salt and half of your remaining flour. Mix on low until combined
- Continue adding in your flour while mixing on low until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If it's still too sticky, add in a couple more Tablespoons of flour until it comes together. The dough will be very soft though
- Keep mixing on low until your dough develops enough gluten that when you touch it, it bounces back. I took my dough out of the bowl and finished kneading it on the countertop for about 2 minutes until the dough bounced back.
- Place your dough into a bowl with about a Tablespoon of olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours or until it has doubled in size. If you're using active dry yeast, it will take longer to proof to double. Keep an eye on it.
- Pour enough olive oil into a 12"x17" sheet pan (or any pan of similar size) so there is a thin layer of oil covering the entire bottom of the pan
- Put some olive oil on your hands to prevent sticking and then pull the focaccia dough out of the bowl. It will be very loose. Divide into two if you deisre. Lay it in the pan and begin stretching it. If it shrinks back, walk away for about 15 minutes to let the gluten relax before you stretch again. Don't worry about getting it to the edges if you divided it in half.
- Once you're done stretching, cover it with plastic wrap and place it into the fridge overnight to develop flavor.
- When you're ready to bake your bread, take it out of the fridge and let it warm up for about 30 minutes. Dimple the surface with your oiled fingers to create some areas where the olive oil can collect.
- Drizzle a good amount olive oil onto the top of the bread until all the dimples have a little oil in them. Sprinkle flakey salt on top.
- After your focaccia has risen for 30 minutes, decorate the top any way you like with veggies, herbs and meats. See the blog post above for more ideas.
- Brush all your veggies and herbs with more olive oil to prevent burning.
- Bake in the oven at 450ºF for 20-25 minutes or until the focaccia bread is nice and golden.
- Because of the toppings, this bread is best enjoyed the day of. Refrigerate leftovers. Re-heating the bread in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 350ºF will bring back that chewy texture.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Sue says
Intend to try this beautiful bread. The ingredient list includes chopped rosemary, but the recipe doesn’t include when to use it. Does it go INTO the dough at some point?
Elizabeth Marek says
Step 12. Sprinkle rosemary on top. 🙂
Kara Bibb says
This was the easiest recipe to follow and your inspo pics really helped guide me for decorating. I hadn’t seen my best friend and her daughter since March and this was the activity we did while we caught up! Fun for us and the little one. Can’t wait to do it again!
Shweta says
Your recipe and instructions are perfect and the bread comes out perfect each time! Thank you so much!
Kisha says
Should I uncover while after I take out the fridge for 30 minutes?
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes I would uncover it
Sita Croes Persaud says
Did this for the first time.was very happy with the result. Love it.was very easy and fun to follow the recipe.
Diane Cortazzo says
Fun to make and very impressive result. Thanks for the step by step instructions!
Sarah says
First time making Focaccia and it was absolutely delicious!
Charmaine Jiao says
My first bread recipe!
Linda VanTassel says
Loved it and so easy.
Libby says
My son and I loved making these, all the family loved eating them. Easy to do by hand (we do not a food processor). Great recipe.
Jana says
So fun to make!
P Kilborn says
Made this yesterday and it looked great! Baked and decorated two trays and gave one to my daughter for the grandkids. My problem was I didnt have as much olive oil as I thought so it was a little dry. I will try making again but with all measured ingredients not skimping on olive oil. Would like to post my picture but unsure how.
Elizabeth Marek says
Hey there! So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Ive made that mistake with the olive oil too haha. Amazing how much it really needs! Please join our fb group sugar geeks and post your pics there! Would love to see them 😀
Teena Jenkins says
What size sheet pans did you use. Thanks!
Elizabeth Marek says
13"x17"
Tawnya from SC says
This Italian bread taste great, rose perfectly and cooked well. It was a big hit for my mothers day gift to my mom. Artistic, tasty and made with love.
I used fast rising yeast and it worked well.
bernice says
I made this focaccia it was fun , ive only made three loaves in my lifetime , i also like being creative with baking ,