Focaccia Art - Sunflowers
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
For focaccia
- 150ml/5flozs. olive oil, divided in two
- 500ml/16.9flozs. lukewarm water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 400g/14ozs. plain flour or bread flour
- 100g/3.5ozs wholemeal flour (if you don't have wholemeal flour replace it with plain white flour)
- 2 teaspoons instant dried yeast OR 50-100g (1.7-3.5ozs) sourdough starter (see note below)
To decorate
- 1/2 cup purple cabbage, chopped
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
- 6 zucchini flowers
- Spring onion, 6 sticks
- Black pitted olives
- Egg yolk for egg wash
If you are using a sourdough starter, please use 50g/1.7ozs during summer and 100g/3.5ozs during winter
Step 1 - Line a 40x30cm/15.7x11.8inch baking tray with at least 1 inch height with parchment and brush with half of the olive oil.
Step 2 - Dissolve the salt and in the water. Add both flours, water and yeast to the bowl of an electric mixer and stir with a spatula to incorporate. Then knead on low speed for 5 minutes.
Step 3 - Pour the mixture into the tray (it will be very wet) and then brush the remaining oil on top. Cover with another tray and allow to rise for 1 hour.
Step 4 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Start decorating the focaccia. I started with the vase-add purple cabbage to form the base on the vase then cherry tomatoes to make the top. Use spring onions around the outer of the tray and to draw the tabletop.
Step 5 - Open up the zucchini flowers and mist with a water spray to prevent these from drying out too much in the oven. Trim them and spread the petals out. Add coriander around them and add a pitted olive slice in the centre of some. You can get creative with your flowers as they all differ slightly.
Step 6 - Brush the "table" part or the bottom half of the focaccia with egg yolk. Bake for 20 minutes and then bake at 200C/400F for 10 minutes.