Focaccia Pizza

Is there such thing as bad pizza? I’m sure there is, but even bad pizza is better than none? I think that’s probably true but that’s neither here nor there because this focaccia pizza is fantastic. If you like pizza? It’s for you. If you like focaccia? It’s for you. Who needs pizza and breadsticks when you can have them together. Just saying, I’m making life easier for you.

I took my Overnight Focaccia pizza dough, and essentially topped it like a pizza. It’s the same process as making either pizza or focaccia, just different dough or more toppings. My Pesto Caprese Focaccia is similar as well so if you’re looking for different toppings I’d start there. The result is sort of like an uber thick Sicilian style pizza. It’s got crispy edges from being baked in the pan but the interior is super soft and squishy. Or don’t sleep on sweet/dessert focaccia like my Cinnamon Apple Focaccia.

Making focaccia, especially overnight version is so, so easy. You put all the bread ingredients in a bowl, stir, cover, and put it in the fridge for 18-24 hours. You don’t have to knead or fold or do anything. Just let it have a little chilly rest and the flavor and structure are taken care of. For toppings you honestly can use whatever you’d like. I used salami (because my kid likes it more than pepperoni), cheese, onion and roasted pepper. Plus pizza sauce, from a jar. If you want to make it yourself you could but I say keep it simple. But toppings are really whatever your heart desires.

Baking Tips

In a 9×13 pan this makes a THICK focaccia pizza. Cut into about 12 pieces, one slice might feel rather filling. If you’d like it a little thinner, I’d probably make this in a jelly roll pan which is about 10×15. It could be made in a half sheet pan, but I don’t know how well the bread would hold up to a lot of toppings as at that point your dough is getting much thinner. If you want to just make a smaller pizza, I’d use my Same Day Small Batch Focaccia measurements, but follow these directions otherwise. That is a scaled down version of the overnight dough, made in a smaller pan. The pizza would still be thick, it’s just going to be less than half of the amount of dough.

I know using pre-shredded cheese makes things easier, but I highly recommend using cheese from a block and shredding it yourself. Low-moisture mozzarella is going to be the best option, sometimes I add a little fresh mozzarella as well too though. This article on Serious Eats goes over the best mozzarellas for pizza.

Focaccia Pizza Key Ingredients

• Bread Flour – Lots of people make focaccia with all purpose, and generally you can. Could you make this recipe with it, yes. But would I recommend it? Probably not. Bread flour gives the bread stronger structure and more chew. Because we are topping this bread with lots of stuff, we want to give it a stronger base.
• Olive Oil – Olive oil, and a lot of it is what gives focaccia that lovely crust. While we don’t need as much on top, it’s still important for flavor in the dough and helping crisp up the bottom of the dough.
• Instant Yeast – I really only ever use instant yeast these days but I also buy very large quantities of yeast so it would be silly to buy another kind. Active dry yeast is fine, but you will need to activate it, which is one of the advantages of instant (it doesn’t require that step).