Halloween Focaccia

10/10/2022

This recipe is great for any Halloween party and doesn’t require any kneading at all! It features the recipe for gluten-free focaccia bread and the decorations you need to make Halloween-themed focaccia. I hope this gives some inspiration for what you can make for a Halloween party! 🎃

Making bread is one of my favorite things to do, and together with the decoration, this was super fun to make!! The gluten-free version turned out great and super fluffy in the middle.

Focaccia is an Italian flatbread, that’s easy to make. It pairs very well with soups, salads.. whatever really! It’s also the perfect snack type of food for Halloween parties or any dinner parties! It’s also super easy to do even if you haven’t baked a lot of bread before.

This Focaccia recipe is vegan, gluten-free, super simple, easy, and fun to make 🙂

GLUTEN-FREE HALLOWEEN FOCACCIA RECIPE

Use this base recipe for any type of focaccia!

Cooking time 60 + min

Serves 8-12

Ingredients

500 g water
350 g gluten-free flour*
11 g dry yeast
2 teaspoons psyllium husk powder
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (+ more for drizzling after baking)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon agave syrup or sugar
Flaky salt, such as Maldon

Instructions

Warm the water to 42°C (107°F) and add the yeast and agave syrup. Mix and let it rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the dry ingredients (flour, psyllium husk, and salt) in a separate bowl.
After 5 minutes, mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients using a wooden spoon or whisk. Add the olive oil and mix until combined.
Transfer the dough to a baking tin lined with parchment paper and let it proof in a warm space for about 45 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 225°C (437°F).
Oil your fingers and make small indentations in the dough. Drizzle with extra olive oil and add your desired toppings (Halloween-themed decorations are explained below). Place the focaccia in the oven and bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until the bread turns light golden.
After baking, drizzle more extra virgin olive oil over the focaccia. Transfer it to a cooling rack and let it cool before slicing. Finish with a sprinkle of Maldon sea salt flakes.

Gluten-free focaccia bread — Really happy with the texture and flavor

Tips and notes

*My gluten-free flour mixture contained light and brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, oat flour, and potato starch. Your focaccia may have a different texture and/or flavor depending on your flour. I’m sure almost any gluten-free flour blend will work, as long as it contains both protein and starch flour.

I used a baking tin that’s 31 x 21 cm or 12 x 8 inches. Your doesn’t have to be exactly the same size but I’d recommend finding something in that size range 😊

See more tips for Gluten-free Baking here

HOW TO MAKE HALLOWEEN-THEMED FOCACCIA

Then the best part a.k.a decoration!! For my Halloween focaccia, I used simple ingredients I already had in my pantry & fridge. You can get creative and use whatever is available to you! For example, the pumpkins would turn out great if you were to use orange bell peppers. Different herbs such as rosemary or thyme would add a nice flavor and look to the focaccia.

Sweet potato

These were my pumpkins. I peeled my sweet potato and cut it into fairly thin pieces (widthways). I made the pumpkin carvings with a small sharp knife. The sweet potatoes added a nice sweet flavor and overall tasted really good in the focaccia!

Chives and parsley

The chives were the grass in this focaccia and the parsley I used as leaves for my flowers and “tree”. These were also some of the tastiest parts of the focaccia 🤤

Red onion

I used red onion as the moon. I also diced some into smaller chunks and added them to the bottom of the focaccia to add some nice color and flavor. White onion or yellow bell pepper would work great too.

Pumpkin seeds

I threw in some pumpkin seeds for extra crunch.

Yellow cherry tomatoes

These were the flowers. Tastewise, 10/10. The cherry tomatoes get so sweet and delicious in the oven.

Black olives

I used black olives (tastewise I prefer Kalamata olives, but these were easier to cut into shape) to create the bats. To make the body of the bat, cut your olive in half (lengthways). Make the wing by slicing 2 small indents into the wing. Then I added some finely chopped olives to the bottom of the focaccia to imitate soil.

Capers

These remind me of the small buds of the flowers. I also added these just because I love capers and I think they go so well with focaccia!