Beautiful Bread: Create & Bake Artful Masterpieces for Any Occasion, written by Theresa Culletto, features a stunning collection of decorated focaccia creations inspired by nature, art, and seasonal holidays. A few highlights include White Irises in a Vase, Claude Monet’s Lily Pond, Under the Sea, Solar System, and Thanksgiving Cornucopia. I will also be sharing her recipe for a Sweet Lemon Cream Dip following the review.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Rock Point in exchange for my honest review. All comments and opinions are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.
Theresa Culletto
Theresa Culletto, also known as the Vineyard Baker, was inspired to bake bread while spending summers with her grandmother in New York. This inspiration turned into a passion and a family business.
While raising her four sons, she opened a cottage bakery and started selling her bread at the local farmers market. In 2018, Theresa started teaching bread baking classes at her local Education center. This is her first cookbook.
Beautiful Bread
Theresa begins Beautiful Bread with a thorough introduction for all skill levels to help get started. She goes over the focaccia dough base, decorations, serving ideas, storage, and even techniques/notes to start your own projects.
She also has a guide for ingredients/tools with descriptions and uses. I especially appreciated the essential terms in relation to bread baking and the abundance of tips.
Chapters are divided based on inspiration: Flowers, Artist Inspired, Nature Inspired, and Holidays & Special Occasions. The contents page has a list of included recipes with page number for easy reference.
The photography is provided by Jocelyn Filley. Every creation is paired with a half to full-page photo of the finished bread.
Measurements are listed in US Customary and Metric. Titles are written in English. Each recipe has a headnote with background information, yield, variations, and helpful tips.
Sweet Lemon Cream Dip
To pair with the post, I am sharing the recipe for Sweet Lemon Cream Dip from the Additional Recipes section! This last chapter has a handful of recipes to use as a topping or filling for the bread such as a chocolate hazelnut filling and basil pesto.
The Sweet Lemon Cream Dip was the perfect accompaniment to the Cinnamon Star bread. It added that notable cinnamon roll cream cheese flavor without obscuring the beautiful twists and swirls of the bread.
Best of all, the dip comes together in less than 10 minutes. Simply beat together room temperature cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, and salt to create a thick and creamy dip. Refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to use (within a couple of days).
While we mostly enjoyed the Sweet Lemon Cream Dip with the Cinnamon Star, it was also delicious paired with graham crackers and fresh berries.
Make sure the cream cheese is completely at room temperature before mixing. If chilled, it will be difficult to develop a smooth texture.
The ingredients can easily be doubled for a larger serving.
More Bread
I also made Spring Tulips, Takashi Murakami’s Happy Flowers, Cinnamon Star, and Celebration Fireworks.
My friend Tori and I assembled the Spring Tulips while she was in town visiting. It is perfect for beginners with sweet peppers, red onion, and a leek assembled into a bouquet of tulips!
Inspired by Takashi Murakami’s Happy Flowers, the second focaccia I made was covered with an assortment of flowers cut from bell peppers, red onion, zucchini, squash, carrots, and leeks. It was such a fun project.
The Cinnamon Star is quite the stunning addition to the holiday table. A sweet focaccia base is layered with a cinnamon filling, then cut and twisted to create an eight-point star. To finish, the sweet lemon cream dip is piled in the center.
The Celebration Fireworks is the last bread recipe in the book. This festive focaccia is packed with color from the roasted red pepper stripes to the sweet pepper, potato, red onion, and purple potato stars.
Beautiful Bread is a wonderful pick for both beginner and more experienced bakers interested in creating stunning art with focaccia. Every single recipe is vegetarian and many are or can be adjusted to be vegan as well. Allow for approximately 2 hours or optionally overnight (mostly proofing time) to develop the recipes.
Most of the ingredients are readily available in larger American grocery stores. Items that may require further searching include flaxseeds, purple carrots, purple potatoes, dark cocoa powder, and black sesame seeds.
Sweet Lemon Cream Dip Recipe
Excerpt from Beautiful Bread
Sweet Lemon Cream Dip
Ingredients
- 4 ounces (113 grams) good-quality cream cheese at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- In a medium bowl or mixer bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix on medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides periodically with a spatula so that it is well blended.
- Use a spatula to transfer the mixture to an airtight container with a lid. Refrigerate until ready to use.
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