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Joyous Decorative Garlic Rosemary Holiday Bread
This Festive Christmas Tree Focaccia Bread is so fun to make. Add it to your center piece to your Holiday table. It’s so colorful everyone will think it was professionally made. Find your favorite cherry tomatoes, sweet tiny peppers, sliced onion and Anaheim (New Mexico or California chilies) or Chilaca peppers. Arrange them how you like to create this artsy focaccia bread. You can watch my YouTube video on how to make and decorate this Festive Christmas Tree Focaccia Bread. This focaccia bread is made for a large group of people. It makes 16 servings.
First lets look back at the history of focaccia bread and where and how it originated.
A Little History About Focaccia Bread
We all love pizza and focaccia bread rates just as high in Italy. It’s origins date back before ancient Rome and thought to have originated by the Etruscans of North Central Italy. Some believe focaccia bread came from Ancient Greece. There are recipes that are close to the origins of the bread from Turkey, Italy, France, Greece and Spain.
Being that the Romans created their own focaccia bread by cooking it on coals they named it “panis focacius”, translating to “hearth bread”. The first focaccia breads were unleavened but eventually changed. It was a very simple plain bread consisting of rough flour, water, olive oil, and small amounts of yeast and salt. Making this a thinner bread used for dipping in soup or olive oil mixtures.
As the Romans spread their empire across Europe so they brought their focaccia bread. Hence, it transpired into each countries individual recipe. The Spanish called it pan de hogaza and the French called it fugasse in the regions of Provence, Languedoc and Burgundy.
Today focaccia is made with much more yeast. Its flattened with poked finger indentations to capture the olive oil and or herbs and garlic. It is eaten as a savory bread with herbs, garlic, olives, tomatoes, peppers and cheeses or sweet with honey, lemon peal, raisins, dates and sugars. It is so diverse, served warm and goes well with so many dishes. I hope you like this Holiday special Festive Christmas Tree Focaccia Bread I have made for you today.
How To Choose Toppings To Decorate Festive Christmas Tree Focaccia Bread
When I look for choices in vegetables to decorate Festive Christmas Tree Focaccia Bread I pick the freshest ingredients. I look for cherry tomatoes that are a variety in color. That way I can create a colorful tree. I also use tiny sweet peppers and use slices off of them as well. They come in yellow, orange and red. This allows me to build the palette of color I will use.
My favorite item for creating the bows on the tree are larger peppers. I use Anaheim peppers or some call them New Mexico or California chillies. If you can’t find these you can also use Chilaca peppers but Anaheim peppers are pretty common in most grocery stores. They are mildly hot and very seldom hot after cooking. I cut these peppers length ways to keep the whole shape of the pepper. This helps mimic a bough on a tree to decorate the bread with.
Some people use rosemary to look like a Christmas tree. Each to their own although I prefer the look of the sliced long peppers.
I use a yellow sliced onion to create the star on the tree. You can use whatever onion you like. If you like it to show up more you might want to try a red onion.
How To Flavor the Olive Oil For Festive Christmas Tree Focaccia Bread
Making focaccia bread can be time consuming as all breads can be. So I start making the bread in the late morning. It has multiple times that it has to rise before putting in the oven. However, if you know when the rest of the meal is suppose to be finished you can time the finished focaccia out so that it comes out hot for the meal.
First, I make the flavored garlic and rosemary olive oil. This is done by heating olive oil in a pan on the stove on medium heat. Once the oil is hot then put the garlic and rosemary in and take it out of the pan and into a bowl when it starts to sizzle. Let it cool. You will use this oil to flavor later in the dough, on the bottom of the sheet pan and poured over the focaccia bread.
How To Make The Dough For Focaccia Bread
In a medium bowl take the warm water, Active dry yeast and sugar, mix it gently. Cover it with a clean kitchen towel and keep it aside for 5 to 10 minutes. Watch for it to activate. It will swell up a little on the surface of the water and look a little spongy.
Once the yeast is activated add half of the flour, all of the salt and stir with a large wooden spoon. After it has been mixed well together for about 2 minutes add the remaining flour and 1/2 cup of the flavored garlic and rosemary oil to it. Knead the bread on a floured surface for 8 to 10 minutes or until soft and elastic like.
Transfer the dough to an oiled large bowl. Cover and keep in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.
Take a 12 X 18 inch sheet pan and drizzle 4 tablespoons of the flavored olive oil onto the sheet. Cover the surface and the sides with the oil. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet pan and press it out with your hands. Continue pressing the dough until it fits the pan. Now with your fingers press into the dough to create dots in the dough. Just press down through the dough.
What To Use To Decorate The Focaccia Bread With
Add the cut vegetables to the top of the bread to decorate. You can use a variety of sliced peppers, (I cut the long green peppers length wise to get the look of a bough on a tree) cherry tomatoes, sliced onion for the star above the tree, (I’ve used green onions before for the trunk of the tree) and sun dried tomatoes. Top with a sprinkling of dried oregano.
Arrange the cut vegetables to your liking. Form your tree to your own artist judgement. Be creative. It’s fun!
Top the dough with the remaining flavored olive oil. Let the dough rise again for 30 minutes in a warm place. I put it under the light above my stove top.
When done put in the preheated oven at 400 degrees. Bake for 25 minutes or until light brown and underside is golden brown and crisp. Every oven is different so it might take an extra minute to cook. Watch the bread so as not to burn.
I hope you like this decorative Festive Christmas Tree Focaccia Bread as much as we do. Enjoy!
More Recipes You May Like:
Gluten-Free Pudding Cookie Crumble Trifle
Vegan Maple Caramelized Onion Tart With Cayenne Bourbon Sauce
Buckwheat Crepes With Savory Mushrooms And Asparagus Topped With Vegan Miso Béchamel Sauce
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Festive Christmas Tree Focaccia Bread
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 25 to 27 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 27 minutes
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Festive Christmas Tree Focaccia Bread is so fun to make. Add it to your table as a beautiful center piece. It’s so colorful everyone will think it was professionally made. Find your favorite cherry tomatoes, sweet tiny peppers and Anaheim (New Mexico or California chilies) or Chilaca peppers. Arrange them how you like to create this artsy focaccia bread. You can watch my YouTube video on how to make and decorate this Festive Christmas Tree Focaccia Bread. Get the whole family involved in the creative making of this joyous adventure.
Ingredients
Festive Christmas Tree Focaccia Bread
- Flavored Olive Oil
- 1 cup Olive Oil
- 10 cloves Garlic, minced
- 2 1/2 Tbsp Rosemary, chopped
- Making The Dough
- 1 1/2 cups, plus 2 1/2 Tbsp of warm Water
- 3 1/2 tsp Active Dry Yeast (one and half packets)
- 1 1/2 tsp Sugar
- 4 1/2 cups Organic Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 tsp Salt
- Vegetable Toppings
- 4 to 5 Aneheim Peppers (to create tree boughs)
- 2 to 3 small Sweet Peppers (yellow, orange or red)
- 3 to 5 Cherry Tomatoes (I use mixed colors)
- 1 Yellow Onion (I use half slices to create star)
- 1/3 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes
- Topping
- Sprinkle Dried Oregano over entire focaccia bread before baking
Instructions
Festive Christmas Tree Focaccia Bread
- First make the flavored garlic and rosemary olive oil. This is done by heating olive oil in a pan on the stove on medium heat. Once the oil is hot put the minced garlic and rosemary in and take it out of the pan when it starts to sizzle. Let it cool. Do NOT burn or darken the garlic. You will use this oil to flavor the dough, on the bottom of the sheet pan and poured over the focaccia bread later.
- In a medium bowl take the warm water, Active dry yeast and sugar, mix it gently. Cover it with a clean kitchen towel and keep it set aside for 5 to 10 minutes. Watch for it to activate. It will swell up a little on the surface of the water and look a little spongy.
- Once the yeast is activated add half of the flour, all of the salt and stir with a large wooden spoon. After it has been mixed well together for about 2 minutes add the remaining flour and 1/2 cup of the flavored garlic and rosemary oil to it. Mix with the the large wooden spoon until you have to do it by hand. (Put olive oil on fingers to stop the dough from sticking to your fingers to start kneading it) Knead the bread on a floured surface for 8 to 10 minutes or until soft and elastic like.
- Transfer the dough to an oiled large bowl. Cover and keep in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.
- Take a 12 X 18 inch sheet pan and drizzle 4 tablespoons of the flavored olive oil onto the sheet. Cover the surface and the sides with the oil. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet pan and press it out with your hands. Continue pressing the dough until it fits the pan. Now with your fingers press into the dough to create dots in the dough. Just press down through the dough.
- Add the cut vegetables to the top of the bread to decorate. You can use a variety of sliced peppers, cherry tomatoes, sliced onion for the star above the tree, (I’ve used green onions before for the trunk of the tree) and sun dried tomatoes and top with a sprinkling of dried oregano. You can fallow the YouTube video I made to help make this bread and watch how I decorated it.
- Top the dough with the remaining flavored olive oil. Let the dough rise again to 30 minutes in a warm place. I put it under the light above my stove top.
- When done put in the preheated oven at 400 degrees. Bake for 25 minutes or until light brown and underside is golden brown and crisp.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Do not burn garlic while heating to flavor the oil
Focaccia bread is best the day it is baked but will continue to taste fresh for up to 3 days when stored.
Store in an air tight container or wrapped plastic wrap.
If you freeze the focaccia bread. Let it come to room temperature, mist the focaccia bread with a spray bottle and put on a baking sheet pan. Put in a preheated oven at 375 degrees. Heat for about 6 minutes. If there are any exposed cut edges cover with aluminum foil to keep the bread moist.
