Halloween Focaccia

Can anyone say Challenge?  Cause this was a challenge, at least for me, and it resulted in several offerings to the 'kitchen goddess', aka garbage can.   

To start with Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures  is the hostess for this Month's Sunday Funday event.    She said 'Main dish, drink, or treat - let's share some Halloween fun!'  So I put on the thinking cap, even if it's not the right size, and came up with this, Halloween Focaccia.    I've made Focaccia in the past and it was good, but my late husband didn't like it, so I made it rarely.   

And it seems like just about everyone makes sweet stuff for Halloween, but I wanted something different, just like me.    I've done some fun stuff for Halloween in the past.  You can check them out here, here, and here.     As you can see, I've had a lot of fun making, baking, and creating.    

So this year, I decided to play, and ended up making a few attempts at Halloween Focaccia.  And as I said earlier, a few made it as offerings to the kitchen goddess.  

This one was BLAND, and didn't rise really well.  

This is how it looked before it went into the oven.   I'd actually made the dough 3 days before to let it 'ripen' a little, and wow, was I disappointed.  It also stuck itself to the pan so hard, I had to soak it free.  Not one of my better attempts.  sigh

 This is the before picture, and then the after for Attempt #2. It rose, but I guess I got too enthusiastic with the salt, because it tasted like it had lingered too long at the salt lick.  

 

After baking...  I lined the pan with parchment paper this time round, cause I didn't want to have to soak or chisel another attempt out of the pan. 

And the winner is...

And that was when I decided, I'm really not that fond of focaccia to begin with.  This one rose really well, but all that oil just felt 'greasy' to me.   And that was when I remembered I'm not that fond of focaccia.  

I will say that I didn't achieve the doughy, lovely, jiggly part that most people aspire to.  I think my house was just too cold.     Or I just tried to hurry it up too much.   

I guess I just don't know when to leave something alone, cause I had to make one more attempt. 

And ummm, this time, it was almost perfect, except I thought it was a touch too pale, so I turned on the broiler, got distracted and this was the result.   

It became a burnt offering. 😜The lower third of the focaccia is actually edible, and the other part, well, I didn't need the calories anyway.😉 The recipe, though, is spot on, even with the burned bits (you could cut those off, but the kitchen goddess will be getting another offering.  

Halloween Focaccia

Yield: 4-6

Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking adapted from many recipes

Have fun with some focaccia and decorate it in Halloween style.

Ingredients

Focaccia

• 2 cups flour, can be AP or Bread
• 1 cup water
• 1/2-1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Active Yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 1/2 cup + good olive oil
• Assorted veggies for decoration, including black olives, green onions, butternut squash, etc.

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, add the flour, water, and salt, and mix to combine.
2. Soften and activate the yeast in the half cup of lukewarm water with sugar. As soon as it starts to foam, add it to the bowl with the flour. Mix well and place in a large bowl that has a tablespoon of olive oil inside, turning the dough to cover completely. Place in a warm place to prove for at least one hour. This dough is very wet.
3. Prepare the pan by adding a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to an 8x8 pan, and turning the dough into the pan. It'll kinda glob down, but as it proves, it will spread out and cover the pan. You can also use your fingers to press the dough out towards the side of the pan, before it proves. Place it in a warm spot for another hour or so, and once it's risen and looks all bubbly, it's time to decorate and dimple.
4. And here's the fun part. Cut some thin slices from the neck of a butternut squash, cut a jack o lantern face into it, then make a couple of bats, by cutting a black olive in half, then cutting the half of the black olive into quarters. Make notches into the quarter slices, and place next to the half olive, as the wings. I used some green onions for the grass and tree, along with some slices of cherry tomatoes for the flowers. I also cut some garlic into strips and inserted them into the dough, and drizzled a little olive oil onto each garlic slice. To finish it off, I chopped some fresh rosemary up and sprinkled it over the top.
5. Let it prove just a little while longer, then bake in a 425-degree oven for about 20 minutes. It will be a pale golden color.
6. Just don't put it under the broiler and forget it like I did, cause I wanted a little more color on it.

 

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @sidsseapalmcooking on instagram and hashtag it #Sidsseapalmcooking

 If you want some more fun ideas for Halloween, take a look at the following.   I know I will be, looking that is, even if I don't have anything planned for this year, yet...

This week’s Sunday Funday is hosted by Amy by Amy’s Cooking Adventures

Sunday Funday

Halloween Recipes

• Black and Orange Cookies by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Halloween Focaccia by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Keto Halloween Quesadilla by Sneha's Recipe
• Mummy Dogs by Culinary Cam
• Necromancer Gnocchi by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Pumpkin and Apple Soup by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sloppy Monster Sandwich by Palatable Pastime