These days Focaccia Art is all the rage, so I asked myself: “Why not make an American Flag Focaccia for Flag Day?” Searching the internet, I found this easy-to-follow set of visual steps at Food.com that produced the beauty above as this post’s feature.

Jonathan Melendez writes, “this focaccia art is the new flag cake. It’s delicious enough to be the star of the party, and pretty enough to be the star of your Instagram!” However, even though sourdough focaccia is simple sourdough bread and I have tried my hand at it several times, mine always seems to darken too much in the oven.

I mean really just take a look at my Flag Day Focaccia here! (By the way, the US Flag Code states: “The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress,” and this bake was about as distressed as any I have ever made. But it still tasted great, and in fact, the darkened veggies were actually caramelized, not burnt. And if I had really studied Melendes’s instructions, I would have seen that the feta cheese goes on after the bake. My bad, for sure!)

Purple Potatoes, Red Bell Peppers/Sun Dried Tomatoes, Povalone and Feta Cheeses all combine to make this Flag Day Focaccia Art

Here is my simple recipe adapted from Maurizio Leo’s  The Perfect Loaf | A Simple Sourdough Focaccia using Jonathan Melendez‘s visual steps to get it looking right:

Jonathan Melendez’s Flag Focaccia

AMERICAN FLAG SOURDOUGH FOCACCIA BREAD

Serving Size:
12 and 20 slices
Time:
Prep 6 hours/Bake 30 min
Difficulty:
Easy

Dough Ingredients

  • 4 cups (500g) White Whole-wheat flour (or 70% All-purpose flour and 30% Bread flour, mixed)
  • 2 tsp (10g) extra virgin olive oil and more for oiling the baking pan
  • 1 ⅔ cup (394g) purified water
  • 1½ tsp (9 g) salt
  • 6 Tbl (94 g) Sourdough starter at 100% hydration

Directions

  1. Mix the sourdough starter, flour, salt in a mixing bowl.
  2. Add all but 3 tablespoons (50g) of the water and mix until it is smooth and elastic.
  3. Do not add the olive oil yet.
  4. Note from Leo: “This dough can be mixed by hand or in a mechanical mixer, such as a KitchenAid,” Maurizio suggests, but “your dough will strengthen faster in a mixer.”
  5. Once the gluten is developed add water a tablespoon at a time. “The dough should not feel ‘soupy’ or completely fall apart,” cautioned Leo, but it will be very loose and wet, he said. If it is getting too sloppy do not add all the water.
  6. Then add the olive oil to the dough mixture and work it for 3-5 minutes or until oil is completely incorporated and the dough comes back together.
  7. Stretch and fold the dough every 30 minutes over the next two hours.
  8. Then transfer the dough to a well-oiled deep rectangular pan. I lined mine with oiled parchment so that the focaccia didn’t stick during baking.
  9. Leo explained: “Every 30 minutes for the remaining 2 hours of bulk fermentation gently stretch the dough, with wet hands, toward the corners of the rectangular container. The dough will resist stretching and spring back (especially with the oil underneath), but don’t force it — each time you stretch it’ll relax a bit more and eventually fill the container.”
  10. Then cover the dough to proof for two more hours undisturbed or place it in the fridge overnight.
Maurizio Leo dimpling for Focaccia Bread

Topping Ingredients

Directions

  1. In the morning, uncover the risen dough and dimple the dough evenly with wet fingers
  2. Go all the way to the bottom of the pan.
  3. Then, drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over the surface of the dough.
    NOTE: To better understand the next steps, see Jonathan Melendez’s 12 Flag Focaccia steps
  4. Lay sliced potatoes into an overlapping square in the top left corner of the dough. This will be the blue “field” of the flag.
  5. Using the sliced red bell peppers and sun-dried tomatoes, make a top stripe and a bottom one. Add five evenly spaced red stripes in between.
  6. Bake at 425°F /218°C for 25–35 minutes. Remove the baked dough from the oven when it is golden brown and then place larger pieces of feta on each potato slice to represent the flag’s stars.
  7. Continue using feta to make the white stripes by sprinkling it between the red strips
  8. Allow it to cool before slicing and serving.

This is a make-ahead recipe that keeps well for days and can be served cold later in the day or the next day or two, too.