Easy Litha Recipe Idea: Summer Solstice Herb Focaccia Bread

Blessed Midsummer! This weekend I celebrated the arrival of the longest, lightest day of the year by whipping up a few homemade goodies packed with ingredients that are traditionally associated with the Summer Solstice, like herbs, honey and edible flowers.

One of my favorite Litha recipes is this garlicky herb focaccia bread — not only is it incredibly beautiful, festive and tasty, it’s also super easy to make. No special tools or equipment required!

The key to transforming plain old focaccia into a work of edible art is all in the details. I used sliced vegetables and fresh herbs to create a Summer Solstice-inspired scene featuring the sun and some wild sunflowers.

I also infused our Midsummer herb bread with a bit of my own magic by setting intentions for the herbs I was using: rosemary for protection, thyme for good fortune and good health, parsley for clear communication and intuition. Easy and effective Litha kitchen witchery!

Easy Litha Recipe: Summer Solstice Herb Focaccia

I used this focaccia bread recipe from Inspired Taste. Pop over to their site for the ingredients and instructions (they also have a helpful video guide), then keep reading below for decoration ideas and tips.

When following the above recipe, you will want to add your decorative herbs and vegetables right before baking, after letting your dough rise in the pan for 20 minutes (between steps 3 and 4 of the “Bake Bread” section of the instructions).

You probably have most of the ingredients for this focaccia bread in your kitchen right now (olive oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, honey, flour, salt) so the only thing you will need to grab from the store is a packet of active dry yeast.

Dried rosemary and thyme will work just fine, although I used a combination of dried and fresh from my herb garden. I highly recommend using fresh herbs if you have access to them! Nothing beats the flavor of fresh herbs. Plus, harvesting herbs on Midsummer is said to bring good fortune.

Decorating Your Litha Bread

Now onto the fun part: decorating your focaccia herb bread with colors and symbols to represent the Summer Solstice. In case you missed my note in the section above, your decorative herbs and vegetables should be added before baking.

Here is what I used to decorate my Midsummer bread:

Yellow bell pepper for the Sun
Orange bell pepper, black olives and fresh parsley for the sunflowers
Tomatoes and fresh parsley for the small red flowers
Fresh rosemary and thyme for added decoration

Summer Solstice Recipe Idea — My Midsummer bread before baking

Really, you are only limited by your own imagination here. The peppers, tomatoes, olives and herbs that we used all looked beautiful and tasted delicious. You could also use onions, asparagus, radishes, mushrooms, seeds, edible flowers and more.

Below are Summer Solstice correspondences to help spark some inspiration:

Colors: Gold, yellow, orange, red, green
Symbols: Sun, sunflowers, fire, solar cross, fruit, flowers
Themes: Protection, vitality, abundance, prosperity, luck
Herbs: St. John’s Wort, elder, honeysuckle, yarrow, chamomile…but essentially all herbs!