Ambitious Bakers Are Finding Inspiration in Vincent van Gogh and Edvard Munch to Create Amazing Works of Focaccia-Bread Art

Extended self-isolation—not to mention the closure of
restaurants—has gotten people back into their kitchens, where
ambitious cooking has led to some of the most widely circulated
images of life in lockdown.

Alongside sourdough starters and whipped dalgona coffee
from Korea, “Garden Focaccia,” as it’s been dubbed—flat white
loaves of bread beautifully decorated with colorful vegetables in
floral designs—has become an internet sensation.

The delightful trend has been pioneered by Teri Culletto, who
began baking bread in 2018, right around the time she visited a Van
Gogh exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

“I was inspired,” Culletto told the publication My Modern Met. Her first focaccia garden appeared on Instagram
in February 2019, and attracted quite the following.

“Through the months and seasons, I would see something in
nature, a field of poppies or vines of grapes, or in a museum
exhibit, and be inspired to convey them through bread art,” she
said.

But bread-making encourages experimentation. “There are no
rules, just art,” Culletto wrote in one Instagram post.

In the instructions she drew
up for making one of her popular breads, “Vincent van Dough,” she advises using
raw vegetables—with the exception of mushrooms, which should be
sautéed and patted dry—and dipping delicate herbs in lemon juice
before baking, to preserve their color.

Culinary influencers such as Hannah Page, who has close to
200,000 followers on her
Instagram account, have embraced the trend to create gorgeous,
glutinous gardens of their own.

And a few bakers have even taken Culletto’s artistic inspiration
to the next level, using her garden technique to recreate
art-historical masterpieces.

We found not one but two focaccia Starry
Night breads: one
on Youtube using onions and olive tapenade to depict
swirling stars and a cypress tree; and another on Pinterest, in which asparagus and
tomatoes make up the composition.

But our favorite just might be from YouTube’s Chef Tuan, who made an impressive
version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream.

Bands of red and yellow pepper recreate the painting’s famously
dramatic sky, while Tuan expertly carved an eggplant to make the
tortured figure that gives the work its title.

As long as you can track down yeast and flour (both of which are
currently in high demand), whipping up a batch of focaccia is easy.
Unlike more intimidating breads, this Italian specialty doesn’t
require kneading. And stretched out on a sheet pan, it offers a
compelling blank canvas for any would-be bread artist—whether they
want to fashion inviting gardenscapes, or their favorite works from
art history.

The post Ambitious Bakers Are Finding Inspiration in Vincent
van Gogh and Edvard Munch to Create Amazing Works of Focaccia-Bread
Art appeared first on artnet News.