COOKING WITH KIDS: Flag-Themed Focaccia for July 4th

July 3, 2024

Heidi Billotto,

Holidays are a great time to start a family tradition—and some of the most delicious traditions start in the kitchen. This 4th of July flag-themed flatbread recipe came to be two summers ago on a family weekend in the mountains when I started cooking with my niece, Emory.

It’s an easy play on focaccia, made super simple with several cans of large, refrigerated biscuits, chopped cherry tomatoes, white cheddar cheese, pitted kalamata olives, and sliced mozzarella cut into stars.

At the time, Emory was 2 and excited to be helping in the kitchen. The idea for this holiday bread came from Emory’s “Ebby,” Debby Sacra. For years, Debby and her daughter Kendel, Emory’s mom, made a popular recipe for flag cake for July 4th. You probably know the one—an easy boxed sheet cake, frosted in white icing, and decorated with blueberries and strawberries. It was cute and made for fun photo ops; the only problem was, it was too big and too sweet.

We knew there had to be another way to bake an edible, savory flag for the holiday. It would have been great fun to make a batch of focaccia, but baking bread is a process and would require time we’d rather spend relaxing over the holiday weekend. So we found a shortcut, starting with a couple of cans of refrigerated biscuits.

The “recipe” is actually right on the back of the can. But instead of baking whole biscuits, we quartered them and placed them side-by-side on a parchment-lined baking sheet with sides.

For a half-sized sheet pan like this one (18x13x1), use three cans of large biscuits. If you use smaller biscuits, you might need four cans. If you want to make a smaller flag focaccia, use a toaster oven-sized baking pan and just one or two cans of biscuits.

Next come the toppings. For July 4^th, a flag seems quite fitting. But you can make this recipe your own and change up the decor on your biscuit-based canvas, too. Just place all the toppings on the biscuits before you put the bread in the oven. Seasonal veggies like tomatoes, corn, and zucchini along with any of your favorite cheese work well.

Once you’ve got your design in place, simply bake according to the directions on the package. Cool slightly. Use the parchment paper to slide your flag- themed flatbread off the pan. Then light the sparklers and enjoy!