Focaccia Pizza

Pizza night is getting an upgrade with this focaccia pizza! Crisp yet fluffy focaccia topped with sauce, cheese, and pepperoni, or whatever your favorite toppings are. Made in a 9×13 pan, this recipe is perfect for a small family, or it can easily be doubled and baked in a 13×18 baking sheet. My kids raved about this recipe, and I love it because you can make it all at once or let your dough rest overnight to cut down your prep time. It’s a win all around!

If you love focaccia, you’ll love this pizza. You’ll also love my regular Focaccia Bread recipe! Or, for more kid-friendly dinner recipes, try Baked Chicken Taquitos, Grape Jelly Meatballs, Homemade Hamburger Helper, or Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes.

Why This Recipe Works

• Combination of two great foods. If you’re new to focaccia bread, you are in for a treat. It’s fluffy on the inside, crisp on the outside, and super flavorful. Making it into a focaccia bread pizza by adding different toppings is a no-brainer.
• Traditional focaccia flavor. Besides making the crust with the focaccia method, this focaccia pizza recipe uses an herbed olive oil to give it a super flavorful crust that tastes like traditional focaccia.
• No sogginess. Is there anything worse than biting into unbaked dough? In my recipe for focaccia pizza, we partially bake (parbake) the focaccia pizza crust before adding any toppings to ensure crispy focaccia with no soggy unbaked dough in the middle.

Ingredient Notes

• Olive oil: We’ll be making a herbed olive oil that we add to the pan with our dough and also spread on top of the dough. This helps make for a flavorful, crispy focaccia base.
• Dried herbs: I like a simple mixture of oregano and basil, along with some fresh minced garlic and salt for my olive oil. You could certainly add other herbs like rosemary, thyme, or even just use Italian seasoning. 
• Bread flour: For really good bread and pizza, I always recommend using bread flour. Bread flour has a higher protein content, which leads to more gluten formation and a chewier texture. You can use all-purpose flour instead, but your focaccia will be softer and less chewy. 
• Active dry yeast: To help the focaccia dough rise. We’re mixing the yeast directly into the dough, but I have never had an issue with the dough rising this way.
• Water, olive oil, salt: The other building blocks of our dough to give it moisture and flavor. 
• Pizza toppings: For this focaccia pizza recipe, I keep it simple with jarred pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni. You can use whatever pizza toppings you like! I’ll have some suggestions for other combinations in Recipe Tips below.

How to Make Focaccia Pizza

1. Make herb-infused oil. In a small saucepan or skillet, heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-low heat until it reaches 150-160°F. Once it’s hot enough, stir in ½ teaspoon of oregano, ½ teaspoon of basil, ½ teaspoon of minced garlic, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Once the ingredients are all combined, remove the oil mixture from the heat and let it steep. 
2. Make dough. To the bowl of a stand mixer, add 2¼ cups of bread flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of active dry yeast. Whisk to combine. Then add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 cup of lukewarm water. Use the paddle attachment to mix these ingredients until they form a sticky ball, then switch to the dough hook attachment. Mix on medium speed for 5 minutes with the dough hook, or until the dough starts to come away from the bottom and sides of the bowl. It’s okay if it sticks to the bottom of the bowl a little bit, but if it’s not coming together, you can add additional flour a tablespoon at a time. We just want to make sure the dough isn’t too dry.
3. Shape, stretch, and fold. Transfer your dough ball to a clean, lightly floured work surface. Pat it into a rectangle. Now, instead of kneading the dough, you’re going to stretch and fold it. Grab both ends of the dough and stretch it gently until it doubles in size. Fold it “letter style” by grabbing one end and folding it into the middle, then repeating with the other end, so it’s back in a rectangular shape with three layers. Spritz the top of the dough with olive oil or nonstick cooking spray, then cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes.
4. Stretch and fold. After waiting 15 minutes, repeat the stretch and fold process. Spritz the dough again with olive or cooking spray, cover, and rest for 15 minutes. 
5. Stretch and fold one last time. Repeat the stretch and fold process, spritz and cover your dough, then let it rest, this time for 30 minutes. The dough will rise slightly at this time, but it won’t fully double in size. 
6. Add herb oil and transfer dough to your pan. Add 2 tablespoons of your herb olive oil to the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Spread it along the bottom of the pan using your hand or a pastry brush, then transfer your dough rectangle to the pan. Spoon the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the top of the dough.

7. Dimple the dough. Use your fingertips to gently poke the focaccia pizza dough all over, slowly spreading it to the edges of the pan. This is called “dimpling.” It’s okay if the dough doesn’t reach all the way to the edges of the pan at this point. 
8. Cover and rest dough in the refrigerator. Cover your dough with plastic wrap and transfer it to the refrigerator. If you’re making this pizza the same day, you can take it out of the fridge after 2 hours. You can also let it rest overnight. The longer the dough sits, the more flavor develops, but either way, it’s delicious. The following steps remain the same.
9. Proof dough at room temperature. After resting in your fridge for 2 hours or overnight, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Use your fingers to dimple the dough again, gently pressing it so it reaches all sides of the pan. Loosely cover the dough and let it sit at room temperature for 1 hour or until it doubles in size. After 30 minutes of proofing, preheat your oven to 500°F.
10. Bake. Remove the cover from your focaccia bread dough and place the dough in the preheated oven. IMMEDIATELY turn the heat on your oven down to 450°F. Bake for 10 minutes.

11. Add pizza toppings. Remove the parbaked focaccia bread from the oven and add your pizza toppings. Dollop and gently spread 12 oz of pizza sauce across the partially baked dough, followed by 2 cups of shredded mozzarella and as many pepperoni slices as your heart desires.
12. Finish baking. Return the focaccia bread pizza to the oven and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden brown and the cheese is melted.
13. Enjoy. Remove the focaccia pizza from the oven, slice, and serve warm.

Recipe Tips

You can go crazy with focaccia pizza toppings. My family loves classic pepperoni, so that’s what I did here. I would stick with 12 oz of sauce and 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, but otherwise, you can do anything. Make BBQ chicken focaccia pizza with barbecue sauce, red onions, and chicken. Or buffalo chicken focaccia pizza with buffalo sauce, ranch, and blue cheese. Make homemade pesto for pesto focaccia pizza. Or make vegetarian focaccia pizza by leaving off the pepperoni for a plain cheese focaccia pizza, or add your favorite veggies.

As is, this recipe fed my little family, with little kids who don’t eat a ton, just perfectly. However, you can easily double this recipe and bake it in a 13×18 sheet pan. The bake time should be pretty similar. 

Don’t skip the parbaking! It helps ensure the crust is perfectly baked throughout. 

I like the simple addition of oregano and basil to the herbed olive oil, but you can add additional herbs like rosemary or thyme. Or, use Italian seasoning.

Make Ahead, Storing, and Freezing

Make Ahead: You can break up the pizza making by leaving your dough in the fridge overnight, instead of just for two hours. This pizza is the most delicious fresh out of the oven, so I would recommend not making it far in advance. 

Storing: Store leftover pizza in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Like regular pizza, this is plenty tasty cold, but the best way to recreate the crispy focaccia texture is by popping it back in the oven at 350°F for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese gets melty again. 

Freezing: You can freeze both the unbaked dough and the baked pizza. Freeze pizza by cutting it into slices, then wrapping individual slices in plastic wrap. Place them in a zip top bag and freeze for up to 2 months. To freeze dough, do all the stretch and folds, then punch the dough down to a ball. Cover it with olive oil, then wrap it with plastic wrap (the olive oil will keep it from sticking to the plastic wrap). Freeze for up to 2 months. When ready to use, let it thaw in the fridge overnight, then proceed with proofing at room temperature and with the dimpling process. You may need to dimple it a few extra times until it reaches the edges of your pan.

Recipe FAQs

More Pizza Recipes

• English Muffin Pizzas
• California Club Pizza
• Homemade Pizza Rolls
• Pesto Arugula Pizza
• French Bread Pizza