The Farm Institute in Edgartown offers both outdoor farming activities as well as kitchen classes, and Teri Culleto’s Farm to Focaccia class has become very popular for both children and adults. Here, Teri provides a shortcut version of her recipe for quick, easy and beautiful breads to take along on your picnic. While homemade dough is always best, This version uses frozen dough to make beautiful mini focaccia breads.
Mini Focaccia Breads
Total time: 1 hour to make and bake. Makes 6
Ingredients:
1 loaf of frozen dough 1 pound or 16 ounces
6 mini peppers of various colors, yellow, red and orange
10 grape tomatoes
1 small red onion
6-12 leaves of any combination of herbs you may have such as basil ,parsley, rosemary sage
3 black or kalamata olives.( no pits)
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 teaspoon of Finish salt such as Maldons
sesame or poppyseeds (Optional)
Equipment:
Baking tray that has been oiled or lined with parchment, sharp paring knife, pastry brush
Directions:
Remove a roll of dough from freezer the night before and allow to thaw in the frig or 2 hours on countertop . These are normally 8 inches long and 2 inches in diameter.
Preheat your oven to 425 Fahrenheit
Prepare dough:
With the kitchen knife slice defrosted dough into 6 equal discs. about 1 1/2 inches thick. Brush the knife with a little olive oil before you slice helps with sticking. Rub olive oil on the palm of your hand and flatten each disc to about 3 1/2 inch in diameter. place each disc on oiled or parchment lined tray set aside. Alternatively, for square mini focaccia simply flatten the dough to 4×6 in using a rolling pin or your palms and cut into 6 equal pieces.
Prepare decorations:
Remove the core seeds and pith from each pepper . Cut a 1/2-inch Slice from the narrow tip of the pepper to be used as a center of the flower decoration on the dough. Then slice the pepper in half lengthways, then cut horizontally, making half circle shape about 1/8th x 1- 1 1/2 inch long. these will serve as “pedals” for the flowers on the focaccia. slice two 1/8 in. thick red onion in slices from bottom to top , remove core and separate out” pedals”. set aside on cutting board
Slice 10 grape tomatoes in half lengthways and rest on a paper towel to absorb some of the juices.
To decorate:
- Brush each dough with olive oil.
- Slice olives in half horizontally. Place one of either the olive halves or pepper bottoms in each of the centers of the 6 dough pieces.
- lay 2 small pieces of herb leaves around the outer edge of each dough. Trim leaves or tuck under the dough itself if too big.
- With pepper and red onion pieces, lay the “pedals” side by side going in the same direction as the natural curve of the pepper one color at a time around the parameter of the centerpiece until you have fill the space in a circumference pattern. With the smaller curved pieces of peppers , create a rounded pedal pattern by starting at the center going outward, to fill the space. each row can be alternating colors of peppers. Place scrap bit pieces in the center of each pedal for even more color. Use your palm to press the decorations down into the dough slightly . sprinkle with finishing salt and seeds if using and allow to rest for 8 minutes.
To bake:
place in oven and Bake for 15- to 18 minutes on middle rack until the bread is golden brown. Cool for 5-8 minutes, Pack in airtight container or bag to transport to your picnic location. Can be frozen after making and reheated at 400 for 5 minutes.
