Celebrate Spring With This Gluten-free Herb Focaccia Recipe

One of my favorite ways to celebrate the solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarter days is by baking something. (Well, ok, maybe not on the summer solstice.) If you look up traditional ways humans have celebrated these seasonal transitions, baking bread is almost always on the list. This makes sense given that bread traditionally represents life. And these seasonal observances are all about celebrating the different phases of life. So for the spring equinox, I decided to make this gluten-free herb focaccia with edible flowers. 

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Gluten-free Spring Equinox Herb Focaccia

I used dried herbs for this recipe because that’s what I have on hand this time of year. Even though the herbs and flowers aren’t fresh, it feels like a celebration of the abundance that’s on its way to us with the return of spring. 

At least that’s how it makes me feel. But I’ve been known to have strong feelings about food. 

For the focaccia bread, I opted for Bob’s Red Mill GF 1:1 Baking Flour. This blend has become my favorite store-bought gluten-free flour blend. But while all gluten-free flour blends are different and generally not interchangeable, I’ve noticed that focaccias and flatbreads are far more forgiving than traditional yeast bread loaves when it comes to gluten-free baking. So while I haven’t tried any other blends and can’t make any guarantees, I’m semi-confident that any gluten-free flour blend that includes xanthan gum would work fairly well as a replacement. 

For the herbs and flowers, I could have chosen them based on specific correspondences and energies that align with the season. But I didn’t. To be honest, I just wanted to create something beautiful. Something that represented the kind of nature abundance I’m looking forward to in spring—in the form of bread. And I feel like this herb-y, floral-y focaccia fits that vibe perfectly. 

Observing The Spring Equinox

I like to keep my seasonal rituals and observances pretty low-key. I’ve found that putting too much pressure or rigidity in doing it “right” makes these celebrations feel like work to me. And the whole point of tuning into the seasonal changes is about slowing down, tuning into the way the earth changes around me, and feeling more connected to myself and to nature. 

As I mentioned in last week’s blog post, my go-to activities and rituals for observing each of the seasonal celebrations tend to consist of meditation, journaling, intention setting, a mindful nature walk, a space cleansing, and baking something I feel fits the season. 

I also don’t hold myself to doing all my rituals in just one day. That just makes me feel stressed out and rushed. The energy of these seasonal holidays doesn’t come and go in a matter of 24 hours. So I like to savor that energy for a few days by spreading my rituals out a bit. 

Today, it’s this Spring Equinox Floral Focaccia and a nice long walk in nature, weather permitting. Then at some point, I’ll do some intention setting and a solid energy cleansing. Not to mention all the spring cleaning tasks on my to-do list. 

Gluten-Free Spring Equinox Herb Focaccia

Baking bread is a great way to celebrate seasonal holidays. And this gluten-free herb focaccia with edible flowers is the perfect recipe for the Spring Equinox.

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Course Bread

Servings 10

Ingredients

  

• 1 ¼ cups lukewarm water
• 4 tablespoon olive oil
• 21 grams (1 tablespoon) honey
• 13 grams (1 tablespoon) instant yeast
• 255 grams (2 ¼ cups) gluten-free flour*
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ⅛ teaspoon salt

For topping

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2-4 tablespoons dried or fresh herbs and flowers of your choice I chose rosemary, mint, basil, calendula, lavender, and edible flowers
• Thinly sliced citrus pieces optional
• 2 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese optional
• 1 teaspoon flaky or coarse sea salt
• 1 tablespoon raw honey optional

Instructions

 

• In a small bowl, add the warm water, yeast, sugar, and olive oil. Stir to combine. Let the yeast mixture sit for about 5-10 minutes, or until the yeast is activated and the mixture looks foamy on top.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together flour, salt, and baking powder. Pour the yeast mixture over the dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 5 minutes to fully saturate the flour. The dough will look more like a thick batter at this stage.
• Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and place it somewhere warm to rise for about 40 minutes or until it has doubled in size.
• Preheat the oven to 375° F and line a quarter-size (9” x 13”) baking sheet with parchment paper. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on the parchment paper to help the bottom of the focaccia crisp up while baking.
• Gently guide the dough/batter onto the prepared baking sheet. You want to deflate it as little as possible. Drizzle it with a tablespoon of olive oil and, using the tips of your fingers, gently press it into a rectangle or oval about ¾-inch thick. You want nice, deep indentations throughout so be firm but gentle. It’s all about balance on the equinox, right? .
• Drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and then sprinkle on the herbs and flowers you’ve chosen, pressing them into the dough lighty as needed so they adhere. Crumble the goat cheese evenly over the bread. Finish by sprinkling the sea salt.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes until it’s a beautiful golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. Drizzle with honey, slice, and enjoy.
• It’s best eaten the day it’s made but it will store for a couple of days at room temperature in an airtight container.

Notes

I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free 1:1 Baking Flour.

I’d love to hear if and how you observe the changing season. Drop a comment either here or on my Instagram page and let’s chat.