Garden Focaccia

Sweet peppers become petals, herbs become stems, and tomatoes form a few small flowers across the dough. A tray turns into an edible garden. After baking, bright vegetables sit on golden bread, with soft pockets of air inside and olive oil fragrant along the edges.

Focaccia belongs to everyday life too. In Genoa, it can accompany a morning coffee or be a piece of bread picked up at lunchtime. Here we plant a little garden on that familiar food, making cooking an occasion for care and creativity.

The traditional Empress sits amid wheat and flowing water. The abundance around her suggests how food grows and how an idea gradually comes alive. The ripe wheat we see has also needed sunlight, water and time.

With garden focaccia, that care happens right in your hands. Dough needs kneading and resting. Vegetables need room so that bread and decoration can open out together. You can plan the garden while remaining curious about the shape it actually takes.

This is a little inspiration for anyone tending something with care: a relationship, a piece of work, or simply life these past few days. Notice what it still needs, and whether you are tired too. When the bread comes out, share it with people you love and remember to keep a piece for yourself.