Focaccia Pizza
Got this idea while watching Pizza Cuz on the Cooking channel. The two cousins visited a shop that sells only focaccia with toppings. It seemed to be a better rendition of Sicilian Pizza, distributed locally--Scranton, PA--and sold in Mom & Pop grocery stores when I was a kid. It was delivered in baking-sheet pans, and, as I recall, a 5-inch square sold for 5-cents. The crumb was like white bread, but chewy. The tomato sauce tasted like...tomatoes, with nothing but salt for seasoning.
I used sourdough focaccia dough (all Bread flour 72% hydration, 30% liquid levain), and made a tomato sauce with a 14 oz. can of diced tomatos, a 6 oz can of tomato paste, 4 oz of V8 juice seasoned with 4 minced garlic cloves, salt, pepper, basil and marjoram. I retarded the dough overnight at 54°F. I sprinkled a few fresh Globe Basil leaves on top immediately after baking.
My go-to pizza dough is a 50/50 mix of semolina and AP flours at 60% hydration, retarded overnight also. I roll it thin; we generally prefer thin-crust pizza. This is a nice change. The dough is particularly light, open and soft, and the bottom crust is crispy.
I made two. One is today's lunch, the second will be frozen. I will warm it up in a 375°F oven for a few minutes hoping to regain the bottom crust's crispiness.
David G
Comments
pizza dough is a vaiation of Focaccia Romana with minced sudried tomato, garlic and fresh rosemary in the dough. No reason the dough can't be a flavorful as the topping! We like it very thin, except for Uno or Geno Chicago style deep dish pizza. Have been messing around with it for years with more variations than anyone could keep track of. It usually has 25% whole grains in it some where but whole durum is hard to find so Kamut would be about a close as we could get. 72% hydration seems about right.
Every time I see pizza posted on TFL I get very hungry and want to make some :-) Yours is no exception.
Happy baking,
frequently, but I've never done it with slathered-on toppings like pizza before now. My wife's favorite is sun-dried tomato julienned into the dough, and kosher salt sprinkled on top. My favorite is plain with just salt. We use it often as a sandwich bread. I've experimented with baking focaccia buns, but they need more hydration tweaking. I'm going to try this dough for buns.
After searching off-and-on for three years I'm still looking for the "best" bun for hamburger, pulled pork, or brisket sandwiches.
David G
and hot dog buns for some time and am still tweaking them. The last batch of hot dog buns was not too bad and the beet hamburger buns were tasty. Hard to get then soft and flavorful while not falling apart under stress :-) The fun is, thankfully, in the searching and experimenting. Ian has a bunch of roll recipes too. I think he liked his last batch for Memorial Day brisket .
Really delicious!
I think just as delicious the next day warmed up on one of those holey pizza pans in a toaster oven. The crust thick, thin, focaccia type like yours is what makes it.
Nice bottom shot.
I've been meaning to catch the tv show!
I have a couple of pizza balls waiting in the fridge left over from my bread/pizza bake the other day. Now I'm really hungry for more pizza...thick or thin : )
We used to have a shop too, where this Italian guy made these large oblong pans of pizza thick and tomatoie just like you discribed..they sold by the squares or oblong cuts. They had more flavor than most pizza's around..just tom, cheese, spices. I think it was a Roma type pizza.
Sylvia
It's become one of our favorites: I add garlic and grated Romano cheese to Bechamel sauce for a base, and top it with rung out spinach--either wilted fresh baby spinach or frozen chopped spinach--sprinkled with balsamic vinegar and feta cheese.
David G
Your WP sounds delicious. I love Romano and lot's of garlic. It's great when you find a pizza combo that you love.
I now favor a balsamic glaze over the balsamic vinegars.
Oh, Bechamel or other white cheesy sauces are so 'fattening' and so worth it delicious on pizza's : ) I especially like the piles of fresh spinach/feta or arugala/goat cheeses for a summery salad type pizza or pide.
I think my favorite white pizza has shrimp or crab on it with a little pesto with 'fattening' cream cheese and heavy cream in the sauce. Just pesto pizza with shrimp/crab is not to guilty. To many choices :) No wonder pizza is loved by so many!
Sylvia
Lovely foccacia, David! Very nice open crumb.
Have you baked it in a pan or on stone?
-Khalid
A perforated pan, on a preheated stone.
David G