Summer Focaccia Ligurian Style

This summer focaccia Ligurian style recipe is adapted from Samin Nosrat’s Ligurian Focaccia with decorating tips from Terri Culletto, the original Van Dough Focaccia Art. The salty brine is the extra touch of the Ligurian Focaccia that echoes the coastal region where it’s from. It is sea salty. This focaccia is topped with beautiful herbs and vegetables that make this recipe a delicious and beautiful work of edible art. It is truly Focaccia Ligurian Style that just reminds me of summer. 

I do not own a stand mixer and so I am always not the lookout for recipes that does not require a lot of hand kneading. This is a gateway for bread making for the newbie. Impressive but easy. It takes a little effort – only time.

You will need 16-24 hours (dependent on your room temperature). Most of it is waiting time for slow fermentation of the dough. In essence, this replaces kneading. Scant hands-on time will be on the decorating procedure.

Before making your first Summer Focaccia Ligurian Style, please read through the rest for helpful tips.

SALT

If you do not with the salt, you will end up having a very salty focaccia. Which is edible but maybe best to just use it as croutons. Do not make the same mistake that I did of not weighing the salt or using the right salt as indicated in the original recipe. I used Morton’s Coarse Kosher Salt in this recipe. 

My mistake the first time I made this was using Morton’s Kosher salt when the recipe asked for Diamond Kosher salt where by volume is more but less dense. Morton’s is more packed (and fine sea salt will be denser), so I ended up doubling the actual amount of salt required. When I weighed the salt, 18 g is equivalent to a tbsp of Morton’s Coarse Kosher salt.

I cannot stress this more. Weigh your salt.   

TEMPERATURE FOR FERMENTATION

Most homes in the US have controlled room temperatures. Most homes in the Philippines are relatively warmer. I have seen countless newbie bakers using recipes from people with controlled room temperatures. So when the recipe says to leave at room temperature overnight, the fermentation goes awry – yeast has gone more than doubled. 

Here are some recommended timings based on your time preference and room temperature. 

12-14 hours fermentation if room is between 70-75 F or 21-23 C

6-8 hours if room is warmer than 23 C

18-24 hours if in the fridge + 2-4 hours to bring it to room temp

Visual Key is that the dough doubles in size. Times are approximation. 

HAVE A SKETCH OF YOUR DOUGH

It does not have to be complicated. Something simple especially if it’s your first time to do it. The decoration of your Ligurian Style Focaccia will clearly scream summer. Unless of course you decide on a different season which I think is a great idea for different seasons and holidays.

DECORATING OPTIONS ACCORDING TO AFTER-COOK COLOR

While leafy herbs and edible flowers look pretty before the bake, most will turn brown and crisp after the bake. With that in mind, design accordingly. Terri recommends that dipping it in lemon water will keep the herbs color.

Optional Lemon Water Dip for herbs

Brown/Black

Most leafy herbs turn brown

Garlic Slices

Mushrooms

Grated Hard Cheese like Parmesan, Asiago, etc.

Black Olives

Black Sesame Seeds

Poppy seeds

Green

Castelvetrano or Green Olives

Green bell pepper

Capers 

Asparagus

Red, Yellow and Orange

Tomatoes

Red Bell Peppers

Carrots

Pink/ Purple

Purple Sweet Tomatoes

Radish skin retains turns Pink/Purple

Red Onions keep the Purple color with a tinge of brown caramelization

Purple Carrots

ON PREPPING VEGETABLES

Cut

The way you cut the vegetables will also bring multiple options. For example, if you cut a mini bell pepper crosswise, you can have an almost roundish petal. On the other hand, when you cut the bell peppers lengthwise in a long triangular way, you can have petals similar to that of sunflowers etc. 

Other prep

Remove seeds from tomatoes and lay on paper towel for excess moisture to be absorbed.

Mushrooms should be sautéed lightly because it holds a lot of moisture. 

DECORATING SUGGESTIONS

Here are other suggestions on how you can cut and use herbs and vegetables for decoration. 

Black Olives  can be flower centers. You can also add poppy seeds or sesame seeds for extra dimension. 

Petals can be tomatoes or bell peppers. 

Asparagus, chives or spring onions can be stems.

Herbs can be leaves.

I cut chives to make it look like tall grass.

Green olives can be like turtle shells or bugs.

Yellows tomatoes and bell peppers can also be butterflies tomatoes can  (cherries, or, bell peppers)

Ideas are endless. 

It is very important to note that you should press the decorations down or else it will pop out during the bake. A window to do this mid-bake is when you lower the temperature to 375F. Tuck it fast. 

SERVING

This is meant to serve on the day of the bake. I like it with cured ham, olives and a dip of balsamic vinegar,  olive oil, parmesan cheese and freshly ground pepper. 

STORAGE

Wrap in plastic and freezer paper then in a ziplock. Freeze. 

REHEATING

Drape a damp paper towel to defrost in the microwave. This prevents it from drying out while being nuked. Then toast if you wish. 

SUGGESTED TIMELINE

This is the schedule I usually use when making focaccia.

Afternoon or Late Evening

Prep the dough. Cover. Leave on the kitchen counter

Create a sketch or visualize your art on the bread. 

Next morning  

1. Prep Decoration: Refer to your sketch. 

2. Tip the fermented double-sized dough onto oil coated sheet pans. Stretch onto pans but don’t force it. Do 15 minute intervals while stretching for 30 minutes, so 3 stretches in total. Prep the veggies.

3. Final Proofing while decorating

4. On the final 30 minutes, preheat the oven with the upside down pan or pizza stone in upper mid rack. 

So, there. I hope this lengthy post helps you to be less intimidated on how to create your own bread of art.

Use #BeWithMia if you replicated recipe or the post inspired you. MIA