Garden bread with vegetables, fennel salami and olive oil
A beautiful, airy garden bread decorated with vegetables and fennel salami in an edible floral design. Perfect as bread to accompany a meal, with tapas, alongside a salad or as an attractive dish for guests.
Garden bread is a decorative bread that combines the best of focaccia and bread served with meals. The bread is made with a soft yeast dough, olive oil, fennel seeds and an attractive topping of vegetables and fennel salami. The result is an airy, golden, flavourful bread that looks impressive and is easy to make.
What makes garden bread special is the decoration on top. Vegetables such as cherry tomatoes, mini sweet peppers, spring onions and red onions are arranged decoratively on the dough to create a floral design. Combined with slices of fennel salami, this gives you a bread with colour, flavour and character.
For this recipe, a ONYX COOKWARE™ sauté pot 28 cm is a useful choice, offering a good size and high sides for spreading out and baking the dough. A chef's knife is useful for cutting vegetables and salami into attractive shapes, while a walnut chopping board provides a stable work surface for preparation.
Recipe for garden bread
Serves: 4
Preparation: 15 min.
Rising time: 75 min.
Baking time: 25 min.
Total time: approx. 115 min.
Ingredients for garden bread
- 25 g dried yeast
- 3 dl lukewarm water
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp salt
- 500 g wheat flour
Decoration for garden bread
- 1/2 Tapas fennel salami
- 1/2 dl olive oil
- 4 cherry tomatoes
- 1 mini sweet pepper
- 1 bunch of spring onions
- 1 red onion
- Extra salt for sprinkling
Method
- Stir the dried yeast into lukewarm water in a large bowl.
- Crush the fennel seeds in a mortar to release more of their flavour into the dough.
- Add the crushed fennel seeds, olive oil, salt and wheat flour to the water.
- Knead the dough thoroughly until smooth and elastic.
- Cover the bowl and leave the dough to rise for about 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 225°C.
- Grease a large pot, sauté pot or pan measuring about 30 x 40 cm with olive oil.
- Spread the dough evenly in the baking vessel and press small dimples into it with your fingers.
- Cover the dough again and leave to rise for another 30 minutes or so.
- Drizzle olive oil over the dough.
- Cut the cherry tomatoes, mini sweet pepper, spring onions, red onion and fennel salami into suitable pieces.
- Decorate the bread with vegetables and slices of fennel salami to create a decorative floral design.
- Sprinkle a little salt over the bread.
- Bake the garden bread in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until golden, baked through and crisp around the edges.
- Let the bread cool slightly before cutting and serving.
Tips for the best garden bread
Use lukewarm water, not hot water, when stirring in the yeast. Water that is too hot can negatively affect the rise.
Press your fingers firmly into the dough before adding the oil and decoration. This gives the bread its characteristic focaccia-like texture.
Cut the vegetables into different shapes and lengths so you can easily create stems, flowers and leaves on top of the bread.
What is garden bread?
Garden bread is a decorative bread topped with vegetables, herbs or other ingredients to look like a little edible garden. It is very similar to focaccia because the dough is soft, oiled and baked with small dimples in the surface.
The bread is particularly popular because it is both attractive and practical. It can be served with a meal, as a side or as part of a tapas spread, where its decorative appearance makes the food extra inviting.
How to decorate garden bread beautifully
To create a beautiful floral design, you can use spring onions as stems, red onions as petals, cherry tomatoes as flower heads and mini sweet peppers as colourful details. Slices of fennel salami add both flavour and decoration to the top of the bread.
Press the decorations lightly into the dough so they stay in place during baking. Avoid pressing the vegetables all the way down, though, as they should remain visible and give the bread an attractive, colourful appearance.
What can you serve garden bread with?
Garden bread is perfect alongside salads, soups, barbecued food, tapas and antipasti. It can also be served as a light lunch with a green salad, a little cheese, olives or a good dip.
Because the bread already has plenty of flavour from the olive oil, fennel seeds, vegetables and salami, it can easily be enjoyed on its own as a snack or shared as part of a relaxed meal.
Can garden bread be made without salami?
Yes, garden bread can easily be made without salami if you want a vegetarian version. Use more vegetables, fresh herbs, olives or sun-dried tomatoes as decoration instead.
You can also add cheese, such as mozzarella or feta, if you want to make the bread richer. The most important thing is to use toppings that provide both flavour and visual appeal.
Can garden bread be made in advance?
Garden bread tastes best on the day it is baked, while the edges are still slightly crisp and the bread is airy. However, you can easily bake it earlier in the day and briefly warm it in the oven before serving.
If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container and warm them the next day. The bread can also be cut into smaller pieces and used as a side in a packed lunch or as a quick snack.
Variations on garden bread
You can vary garden bread in many ways to suit the season and your taste. Try decorating it with courgette, olives, fresh rosemary, sun-dried tomatoes, red onions, small peppers or fresh herbs.
To give the bread extra flavour, sprinkle it with flaky salt, grated cheese, garlic oil or a few chilli flakes before baking. This makes it easy to adapt the bread for everyday meals, guests or tapas.
