A Strawberry Summer Social

Sometimes, inspiration is complicated. If you’ve been following me enough, you know I get some crazy ideas!

But other times, it’s singular and simple- and that was exactly the case with this Strawberry Summer Social with Mary of Mrs. Southern Social! You know Mary and I will always find a reason to dress up a table (and ourselves) and we had a blast bring this elegant, but whimsical, party together. Even Dolly the bunny got in on the fun.

We started with a simple inspiration: a ripe summer strawberry. From there, we partnered with some of our favorite brands to bring our vision to life! I love the contrast between the playful Draper James napkins against crisp, clean Vietri dishes. And you know I had to get my favorite Le Grand Courtage sparkling rose in there.

While the tiered strawberry cake was pretty incredible- it was upstaged by a homemade strawberry focaccia. This was one of those recipes where I said “why hasn’t anybody else thought of this before?” You could easily swap strawberries out for summer peaches, or a more savory something, like olives! Try it for yourself and make sure you serve it warm! Trust me.

Links: Placemats, Napkins, Dinner Plates, Salad Plates, Cake Stand, Square Baker, Platter, Glasses, Flatware, Napkin Rings, Tablecloth, Flower Vase, Mary’s Top, Mary’s Shoes, Katie’s Dress

Strawberry Rosemary Focaccia

makes one 9 x 13" pan

1 ¼-oz. envelope active dry yeast (about 2¼ tsp.)

2 tsp. honey

5 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. kosher salt

6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for hands

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter melted, plus more for pan

1 cup strawberries, sliced

Fresh rosemary, chopped

Flaky sea salt

Instructions

Whisk one ¼-oz. envelope active dry yeast (about 2¼ tsp.), 2 tsp. honey, and 2½ cups lukewarm water in a medium bowl and let sit 5 minutes (it should foam and you should start o see movement to insure your yeast is active and alive).

Add 5 cups all-purpose flour and 1 tsp. kosher salt and mix with a rubber spatula until a shaggy dough forms and no dry streaks remain.

Pour 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil into a big bowl that will fit in your refrigerator. Transfer dough to bowl and turn to coat in oil. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until dough is doubled in size (it should look very bubbly and alive), at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.

Generously butter a 9x13” baking pan. Pour 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil into center of pan. Keeping the dough in the bowl, use your fingertips to gather up edges of dough farthest from you and lift up and over into center of bowl. Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat process. Do this 2 more times; you want to deflate dough while you form it into a rough ball. Transfer dough to prepared pan. Pour any oil left in bowl over and turn dough to coat it in oil. Let rise, uncovered, in a dry, warm spot (like near a radiator or on top of the fridge or a preheating oven) until doubled in size, at least 1½ hours and up to 4 hours.

Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 450°. To see if the dough is ready, poke it with your finger. It should spring back slowly, leaving a small visible indentation. If it springs back quickly, the dough isn’t ready. Lightly oil your hands. If using a rimmed baking sheet, gently stretch out dough to fill (you probably won't need to do this if using a baking pan). Dimple focaccia all over with your fingers, like you’re aggressively playing the piano, creating very deep depressions in the dough (reach your fingers all the way to the bottom of the pan). Drizzle with remaining 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Top with sliced strawberries and chopped rosemary. Bake focaccia until puffed and golden brown all over, 20–30 minutes.

When ready to serve, brush top of focaccia with melted butter and slice into squares.

Recipe adapted from https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/easy-no-knead-focaccia/amp