Our farmer’s market is in full swing here in Colorado. It is the first summer I have lived near a large farmer’s market that has seemingly endless varieties of vegetables. It’s satiating my intense FOMO of Weelicious and all her farmer’s market hauls.

I love so many things about shopping my local farmer’s market. It’s supporting local agriculture, which is good for the environment and supports the economy of my little town. The produce fresher, which makes it taste better and typically has higher nutrient concentration. As soon as you pick something, it starts to lose nutritional value. It also introduces me to a wide range of produce that I normally don’t see at a standard grocery store. I get inspired by picking up a new vegetable and figuring out what to do with it.

We picked up some edible flowers last weekend, and I have been playing with them in the kitchen ever since. If you haven’t seen the focaccia gardens all over the internet, I guess you don’t follow as many food nerds as I do. I’ve wanted to try it for months, and finally had an excuse. My 4 year old helped me decorate, and the bread came out light and fluffy. Perfect picnic bread for our ham and cheese sandwiches today.

Ingredients

1 packet dry yeast

1 Tablespoon honey

2 1/2 cups water (105-110*F)

5 cups all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon salt

5 Tablespoons olive oil

handful of edible flowers

Optional Ingredients

cherry tomatoes

black olives

pickled jalapenos

rosemary

asparagus

red onion

bell peppers of various colors

Instructions

1. Warm water to 105-110*F. Add warm water to a large bowl and add in honey. Sprinkle yeast and allow to foam for 5-10 minutes.
2. Mix in flour and salt with rubber spatula. Your dough will be more like a shaggy ball and not a smooth dough, don’t worry!
3. Pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a large mixing bowl. Add tough and turn to coat in oil.
4. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and put in fridge to rise overnight, at least 8 hours.
5. Coat an 18×13 inch pan in olive oil.
6. Remove dough from fridge. While in bowl, grab the far side of the dough ball and fold in toward your body. Do this with remaining three sides of dough, turning the bowl a quarter turn each time.
7. Put dough on prepared baking sheet. Pour any residual oil on top of dough ball and let rise for 2 hours, or until you can poke your finger into dough and have it slowly rise while leaving an indention in the dough.
8. Once dough is ready, spread dough to cover entire baking sheet. Dimple dough with your fingers and brush with remaining olive oil.
9. Decorate bread with edible flowers and optional vegetables.
10. Bake in a 450*F oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.